The chair of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer, has voiced opposition to proposals for the regionalization of inheritance tax, recently put forward by Bavarian state premier Markus Söder
In comments to the “Rheinische Post”, Professor Schnitzer warned that allowing individual German states to set their own inheritance tax rates would likely trigger a “race to the bottom” in tax levels She argued that wealthier states would be best positioned to benefit from such a system, while overall tax revenue and fairness would likely suffer “This would neither lead to more tax revenue overall nor to more justice, quite the contrary” she stated
Schnitzer instead advocated for a comprehensive reform of the existing inheritance tax She proposed a moderate, uniform tax rate across the country, combined with reasonable tax-free allowances and a reduction in the number of existing exemptions
The debate follows Söder’s call on Monday for a regionalization of the inheritance tax, arguing that, as the revenue ultimately flows to state budgets, individual states should have the authority to determine their own rates