Fridae

Deutsche Welle reported on Aug 17, 2010:

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court announced Tuesday a ruling that registered homosexual life partners should receive the same inheritance rights as married spouses.

The court determined that "protection of marriage and family" was not a sufficient argument for discrimination against gays when it came to inheritance law.

"The Constitutional Court ruled that there was not a significant enough difference between married spouses and registered life partners to justify discrimination against the latter," court spokeswoman Judith Blohm told Deutsche Welle. 

Different tax rates for gay couples 

Until 2008, registered partners could inherit only 5,200 euros (US$6,700) from their loved one tax-free - as opposed to 307,000 euros for widowed spouses. Although that rule has been off the books for two years, under current law inheritance is still taxed at a significantly higher rate for the survivors of same-sex partners. 

In fact, surviving registered partners are taxed as if they were inheriting from a distant cousin, with rates ranging between 17 and 50 percent, as opposed to 7 and 30 percent for survivors of opposite-sex partners. 

"From now on, registered homosexual couples will have the same rights as married couples where inheritance law is concerned" said Klaus Jetz, director of the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany.

Changing the law on inheritance and income tax

The Constitutional Court has ruled that German lawmakers must implement the court's decision into inheritance tax law by the year's end and must include measures to apply the new rules retroactively to cases of widowed life partners since 2001.

Full story in Deutsche Welle.

Excerpted from Spiegel Online (Aug 18, 2010):

Germany is gradually working toward giving gay couples equal rights in many areas. On Tuesday, it took a further step, when its top court ruled that same-sex couples in civil partnerships are entitled to the same inheritance tax rights as married couples. 

The Constitutional Court, based in the western German city of Karlsruhe, found that inheritance tax law between 2001 and 2008 had disadvantaged registered homosexual partnerships. Germany introduced a form of civil partnership for same-sex couples in 2001, yet when a partner passed away, the surviving partner had to pay much higher tax on anything they might inherit.

The Financial Times Deutschland via Spiegel Online (Aug 18, 2010):

"If gay marriages and classic marriages are treated equally when it comes to inheritance rights, then why not when it comes to other taxation?" 

"Within the government, only the FDP is asking this logical question. Large parts of the CDU and the entire CSU, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, would rather not hear it at all."

"Little wonder, as they would have to admit that there are no sensible reasons for discriminating against gay partnerships -- for example when married couples combine their income tax returns. While heterosexual couples can share the income between two people and so pay less tax, gay couples are denied this possibility." 

"The old argument that gay couples cannot have children is hardly applicable, because many classic marriages these days remain childless." 

"If the CDU/CSU politicians really want to use the tax system to promote people having children then they shouldn't link any incentives with marriage. In reality, there are so many colorful constellations these days that families shouldn't be encouraged according to marriage certificates or sexual orientation, but according to whether they are adults who will care for children in a stable and reliable way."

Full story in Spiegel Online.