Zurück zum Zehnten: Modelle für die nächste Erbschaftsteuerreform

The recent German estate tax reform is criticized with regard to its unconstitutionality and for economical reasons. In particular it is in question whether the extensive tax exemption for firms can be justified by welfare arguments. From an economic point of view it is preferable to establish an estate tax with a broad tax base and low tax rates. The empirical results of our analyses gained by the microsimulation model ERBSIHM show that extremely low tax rates could be obtained. The current progressive tax rate could be halved. Alternative a rather low proportional tax rate of about 10% could be achieved. Such moderate tax rates would certainly increase the acceptance of the estate tax. In addition, such an estate tax reform would meet demands for equability of taxation as well as for low compliance costs and neutral taxation.