Rejection of the deletion of tax privileges for the highest inheritances (recommendation)

The Bundestag has rejected a proposal from the left-wing faction entitled “Remove tax privileges for the highest inheritances”. The left-wing faction calls for central tax relief in inheritance tax law to be abolished. These include in particular the so-called exemption requirement test according to Section 28a of the Inheritance Tax Act as well as other benefits in Sections 13a to d and 19a. In the group's opinion, these regulations mean that very large inheritances and gifts are in fact hardly taxed. As justification, she points out that in 2023, only eight million euros in taxes would be due on inheritances and gifts worth over six billion euros, which corresponds to a tax rate of around 0.13 percent. Very wealthy heirs in particular would benefit from these regulations, while small inheritances and especially the new federal states would hardly benefit. The left-wing faction also criticizes other options for tax planning, such as the repeated use of tax allowances, special regulations for large real estate holdings and foundation models. In their view, this leads to unequal treatment, with smaller inheritances being taxed more heavily than very large assets. There was a recommendation for a resolution from the Finance Committee regarding the request from the Die Linke parliamentary group, which recommended that the request be rejected. The recommendation for a resolution was voted on by name. This was approved with 507 votes in favor and 47 against, with no abstentions. The left-wing faction's request was therefore rejected.