Germany’s largest social welfare association, the VdK, has called for increased contributions from wealthier individuals towards funding the nation’s social safety net, cautioning against any attempts to obstruct progress.
VdK President Verena Bentele, in an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ), indicated a need for adjustments to both wealth and inheritance taxes, specifically suggesting higher taxation on substantial gifts and inheritances exceeding two million euros, alongside measures to close existing tax loopholes.
Bentele warned against using the coalition agreement as a shield against reform, noting the previous government’s failure to deliver. She emphasized that relying solely on those with limited resources for budgetary adjustments risks jeopardizing social cohesion.
While advocating for change, the VdK president signaled a willingness to engage in compromise regarding planned reforms. She stated that an opportunity exists for greater tax fairness alongside necessary modernization efforts. However, Bentele criticized the current focus solely on cuts and reductions, arguing it fails to address the core challenges.
The VdK refutes the notion that an overly generous welfare system is the primary problem. Instead, the focus should be directed towards the growing concentration of wealth held by a small segment of the population. According to Bentele, wealthy individuals effectively sidestep scrutiny, leading to perceptions of injustice, such as the high cost of housing for social welfare recipients, which is driving public frustration.
Bentele urged a need to highlight this imbalance and stressed the importance of implementing the constitutional principle that ownership entails responsibility in a contemporary manner. She challenged the government to avoid using the coalition agreement as a justification for watering down this principle without meaningful debate and suggested it as an integral component of modernizing the state.