Kohl Still Owes Taxes, Expert Says

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl should pay taxes on money prominent Germans advanced him to help make good on a slush fund scandal, according to tax experts interviewed by the German newsmagazine Stern. The scandal had rocked the chancellor's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in 1999 after Kohl admitted he had accepted more than €1 million ($1.23 million) from unidentified donors. In addition, others in Kohl's party were charged with moving millions intended to fund election campaigns to avoid financial reporting requirements. According to the Berlin-based professor of tax law, Christian Rasenack, the €2.63 million ($3.25 million) Kohl received from a number of people to help his party pay fines connected with the scandal should be subject to taxes imposed on gifts. Kohl's lawyer called Rasenack's analysis "absurd."