The President of the Association of Family Entrepreneurs, Marie-Christine Ostermann, is calling for the abolition of inheritance tax for businesses in the eastern German states. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall, companies there were systematically disadvantaged when it came to building up equity capital, she told the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers, explaining the reasons for this.
"A complete abolition in the eastern German states would greatly improve the opportunity for companies there, from family businesses to craft enterprises, to strengthen their equity capital," said Ostermann. However, the entrepreneur is sceptical about the proposal by Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) to regionalize inheritance tax so that each federal state could set its own tax rates.
