25.4.2024
The gap between rich and poor threatens to widen further. Here is what you should know about it - and what helps against it.
Wealth
Simulator
A wealth tax? A higher inheritance tax? Or a starting capital for young people? Here you can calculate if and what would really change in the distribution of wealth in Germany.
Rich versus poor - the wealth-simulator
Choose one measure - and compare whether and by how much it would break the trend of rising inequality.
Flat tax on inheritances from adult children and stepchildren above a tax-free threshold of EUR 500,000; elimination of current exemptions not taken into account.
0 %
0 %
100 %
Annual tax- and duty-free payment to all citizens from the income of a state fund.
0 €
0 €
2.500 €
Annual tax levied on assets in excess of 1 million euros.
0 %
0 %
10 %
Paid out as a basic inheritance to all 20-year-olds in a given year. Use tied to specific purposes such as retirement provision, acquisition of property assets, education financing.
0 €
0 €
100.000 €
Withholding tax on capital income without assessment option with an allowance of 1000 euros (801 euros until 2023).
0 %
0 %
50 %
...
0
Until now
Created trend*
0
In 10 years
without interventions
0
no measure selected
Lower half of the population
Upper middle class
Top 10%
* Increasing inequality due to demographic trends, etc.
Data basis: SOEPv37. Calculations by DIW Berlin.
Download:
DataDefinition of the measures
Read the paper
Reducing wealth inequality, but how? What it teaches to simulate
When it comes to rich and poor, this is always a source of emotion - and heated arguments about whether a wealth tax or inheritance tax would help. Yet until now it was largely unknown what such and other political measures would really change in the distribution of wealth. The wealth simulator we have developed to test the most important measures makes it possible to estimate this better.
The model results make it possible to objectify the debate. It shows, for example, that although a wealth tax would generate additional revenue, a tax rate of one or two percent, as is usually proposed, would hardly change anything in the wealth situation in the long run. According to the simulation, the effects would be much greater if young people in Germany were given a starting capital of 10,000 euros or more - or if each and every German received an annual state dividend. At the same time, such measures would be significantly more expensive for the state. The simulations thus help to better estimate costs and benefits. In the end, the choice of the means depends only on political considerations.
News About Inequality
Gallery
Facts
How has the inequality of income and wealth developed in Germany? An overview in data and graphics.
13 Myths
True or false? The most common misconceptions about inequality - and what's really behind them.
Explorer
Research on inequality is booming. What are the milestones? What should you have read?
Changing Ideas
From belief in the trickle-down effect to the realisation that inequality is steadily increasing - and a new policy is needed.
About the Forum New Economy
ReBalance is a project of the Forum New Economy.
News About Inequality
There are new findings about the gap between rich and poor all the time. Here you can read what is new and important.
SimulatorPlus
What would happen if? The instruments in detail.
For Specialists
Everything about the methodology and assumptions behind the simulation. The page for technicians.