Overview

• CDU budget expert Andreas Mattfeldt told BILD he could accept raising the 45 percent surcharge for top earners if sweeping social-welfare reforms are implemented.
• The SPD keeps higher levies for top earners and wealth on the table, with Finance Minister and party leader Lars Klingbeil declining to rule out tax increases.
• CSU leader Markus Söder rejects any tax hikes and has floated regionalizing the inheritance tax so Bavaria could lower rates.
• Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister President Daniel Günther opposes Söder’s regionalization idea and says a fresh inheritance‑tax debate is the wrong priority.
• Economists diverge on the path forward, with ifo’s Clemens Fuest warning higher taxes would sap investment and DIW’s Marcel Fratzscher urging increases, including on property and inheritances.