Status: 11.11.2023, 18:47 PM
By: Bona Hyun
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On average, men inherit significantly more and receive more gifts than women. As a result, women have less wealth and still pay more taxes.
Berlin – Women don't just lose out when it comes to salary. Women also seem to be disadvantaged when it comes to inheritance. On average, men inherit significantly more and receive more gifts than women. Researcher Daria Tisch from the Max Planck Institute calls this the "gender poison gap." This contributes significantly to the fact that women have less wealth than men in the long term.
Discrimination in tax policy: Women are disadvantaged when it comes to inheritance
Overall, women receive 37 percent fewer gifts and 13 percent fewer inheritances. The value of inheritances received by women is also seven percent lower than that of men. As a general rule, the lower the value of the inheritance, the lower the inheritance tax. Nevertheless, women pay slightly more inheritance tax on average (4.4 percent, compared to only 4.3 percent for men).
This could be due to the following reason: companies that have been given away or inherited are treated particularly favourably by the tax system. However, according to a study, daughters are more likely to receive the tax-more expensive assets such as cash. For example, between 2007 and 2020, women received 43 percent of the inherited company, compared to 57 percent for men.
This is the conclusion reached by Tisch and research partner Manuel Schechtl. In their study, they investigate how inheritance and gift tax systems, in conjunction with gender-specific behavior in parental transfers, increase wealth inequality between the sexes in Germany.
On average, men are and will remain richer than women. Women are also disadvantaged when it comes to inheritance. © Hans-Jürgen Wiedl/dpa/Panthermedia/imago/montage
Difference in inheritance: According to the study, women receive 37 percent fewer gifts
According to the study, the gap is even larger when it comes to gift tax: While men pay an average of 2.5 percent gift tax, women pay three percent. "The difference doesn't sound big at first," says Tisch. If women and men were to receive assets worth 500,000 euros, the woman would pay an average of 3,250 euros more in taxes than the man, it is said.
The study also shows that for women, the value of gifts is ten percent lower than the value of gifts received by men. Between 2007 and 2020, women received 39 percent of corporate gifts, while men received 61 percent. It can be argued that the value of the gift could also have an impact on inheritance tax, as a gift during one's lifetime reduces the estate. In addition, a gift also minimizes the inheritance tax burden on the heirs after the inheritance.
Inheritance tax, gifts and gift tax
Inheritance tax is levied on the estate of a deceased person received by persons (heirs).
A gift is a transfer of property between living persons. A gift is defined as any generous donation between the living that leads to enrichment.
The gift tax complements the inheritance tax and applies from the moment the allowance is exceeded. It is considered necessary so that inheritance tax is not avoided by gifts between the living. That is why it meets the same standards as inheritance tax. In order not to overburden the heirs, but also to ensure that the state receives an appropriate share of the estate, there are allowances and different tax rates and tax brackets.
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Women earn less – gap in gender pay gap is likely to be smaller
In addition to the unequal inheritance and gift taxes, women also receive less salary than men. In 2022, women in Germany earned an average of 18 percent less per hour than men. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that women's gross hourly earnings (20.05 euros) were 4.31 euros lower than men (24.36 euros) at an average of <>.<> euros.
In the long term, the wage gap has significant consequences for pensions. Currently, the "pension gap" between men and women is around 60 percent – a consequence of the fact that many of today's female pensioners earned little or no income. However, the experts from the Federal Statistical Office assume that the differences would actually be smaller, as certain factors would not be taken into account. These are, for example, pregnancies or caring for relatives. The adjusted gender pay gap should therefore be understood as an upper limit.