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Basic heritage for everyone
Left leader demands 50,000 euros for everyone on their 18th birthday
Demands a “basic inheritance”: Left leader Martin Schirdewan
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Martin Schirdewan calls for some kind of basic inheritance for everyone who comes of age. It should be the amount of an average annual income. They are supposed to finance particularly rich heirs.
Schirdewan therefore advocates that everyone with their main residence in Germany be paid a basic inheritance amounting to an average annual income on their 18th birthday. That would be around 50,000 euros gross. This would be a “small compensation for the injustice of the distribution”.
Basic inheritance for everyone: The bonus should be offset against young heirs
For young people who have already inherited, the payment should be offset. “If someone inherits 50,000 euros after taxes before they turn 18, they only get half, i.e. 25,000 euros, as a basic inheritance,” says Schirdewan: “If someone inherits more than 100,000 euros before then, they get nothing in terms of basic inheritance.”
Even if someone were to inherit after receiving the one-off payment, according to the Left leader’s ideas, half of it should be retained until the 50,000 euros are reached. To finance this, Schirdewan wants to “drastically increase” inheritance tax from an amount of two million euros.
Jusos also want “basic inheritance”
The demand for a basic inheritance is not new. In November, the SPD’s youth organization, the Jusos, passed a corresponding proposal at its federal congress. According to this, all people with their main residence in Germany should receive a basic inheritance of 60,000 euros when they reach the age of 18. The Jusos wanted to implement a staggered higher inheritance tax starting at one million euros.