The boss of the economy, Schnitzer, considers the inheritance tax in its current form to be unfair. She thinks that heirs to houses and companies should be held more accountable.
The chairwoman of the Economic Wise Men, Monika Schnitzer, is pushing for a fundamental reform of the inheritance tax. A comprehensive new regulation is “indicated”, Schnitzer told the “Münchner Merkur”. Anyone who does not inherit a house has to “earn very, very well in conurbations such as Munich, Frankfurt or Hamburg in order to even have the chance of owning a home”. On the other hand, home heirs would have “much better chances to start”, even if they had to pay inheritance tax.
In the event of a new regulation, company heirs would also have to be asked to pay more in the future, the economist demanded. Currently, the tax burden when inheriting a company is “comparatively low”. On the other hand, “proper inheritance tax” is due on the inheritance of financial assets, a vintage car collection or art. This unequal treatment is “not really plausible,” criticized Schnitzer.
She also addressed the often-raised objection to higher taxation of company heirs, according to which a large part of the assets are tied up in the companies and cannot be removed without endangering the company’s existence. One “could work very well here with deferrals, in which the inheritance tax incurred would be divided and paid over several years”. Such an adjustment is “comparatively easy to implement and fairer than the existing regulation,” said the chairwoman of the Advisory Council on the assessment of overall economic development.
