Overview

• Katherina Reiche calls tax hikes "gift" in the current economy, rejects raising the inheritance tax, and argues for lowering the burden on earned income.
• Chancellery chief Thorsten Frei cautions that tougher rules could push family businesses into sales during generational transfers and dampen investment, urging planning certainty.
• SPD general secretary Tim Klüssendorf presses for changes to reduce privileges on very large transfers and backs the idea of a lifetime allowance.
• DIW economist Stefan Bach proposes an €800,000 lifetime tax-free allowance that would spare most heirs while asking the very wealthy to pay more.
• Uncertainty grows as Karlsruhe weighs the constitutionality of business-heir exemptions, with a ruling expected this year that could require lawmakers to revise the statute.