Overview

• VdK president Verena Bentele has publicly dismissed the DIW’s Boomer-Soli levy on wealthier retirees as an unjust burden on one generation
• She urged the federal government to implement higher inheritance and wealth taxes to fill the growing financing gap in Germany’s pension system
• Bentele warned that the basic pension and credits for caregiving are insufficient to protect low earners, the sick, caregivers and parents from retirement poverty
• She argued that delaying reforms to inheritance and wealth levies is no longer tenable given demographic shifts and projected pension deficits
• Her intervention sets the tone for the cross-party pension commission’s upcoming review of sustainable long-term funding options