Overview

• CDU floor leader Jens Spahn publicly acknowledged unequal wealth distribution, prompting SPD figures, the VdK and parts of the Union to press for tighter inheritance-tax rules.
• Green parliamentary co-leader Katharina Dröge proposes abolishing major exemptions while offering multi‑year payment deferrals for business heirs to avoid risking jobs.
• FDP general secretary Nicole Büttner rejects higher burdens, warning of threats to competitiveness and to company successions.
• Confidential coalition consultations are underway as a Bavaria-led case in Karlsruhe challenges the current inheritance-tax framework.
• SPD officials cite roughly 400 billion euros inherited annually with only a small share taxed, while Finanzwende, citing official data, reports 45 large heirs transferred about 12 billion euros in 2024 yet paid roughly 130 million euros after waivers.