A renewed focus on social welfare reform within Germany’s governing coalition is gaining momentum, with leading members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) proposing a direct link to a fairer taxation of substantial inheritances.
SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch, in comments to the “taz” newspaper, emphasized the issue of unequal wealth distribution as a core concern. He stated that the coalition should now review the special rules currently applied to inheritance tax for the wealthiest individuals, arguing that recipients of multimillion-dollar or billionaire inheritances should not be absolved of responsibility. Closing existing loopholes, he suggested, would safeguard smaller inheritances and contribute to greater equity.
Financial expert and member of the SPD parliamentary group executive board, Parsa Marvi, echoed this sentiment, advocating for social welfare reform and wealth distribution to be addressed jointly. He characterized this integrated approach as a powerful message of future direction for the coalition. Marvi underscored the importance of ensuring fairness not only for workers and social benefit recipients, but also for those holding significant assets. He pointed to proposals from the parliamentary group from 2023, which call for reforms to prevent very large assets from being passed on tax-free.
Marvi believes a crucial opportunity is emerging, indicating a window of opportunity for the coalition to actively engage with these proposals and potentially implement changes. The discussion aims to reshape the approach to inheritance tax and contribute to broader efforts to address wealth inequality within the country.
