Deserved - undeserved. The public discourse on inheritance tax in Germany and Austria

Despite the significant impact of inheritance on perpetuating social inequality from one generation to the next, a majority of Germans and Austrians are opposed to an inheritance tax. In the present contribution, we investigate how opponents and proponents of such a tax justify their respective positions in order to understand the structure of the discourse on this issue. The paper draws on our content analysis of 3573 arguments, expressed in two online debates that were both triggered by in-depth interviews on the topic. The results confirm that a majority rejects an inheritance tax. Yet beyond this finding, the analysis of the respective justifications offers insights into the complex controversies this tax and the normative and functional questions it poses give rise to.