The article admits that the 700k figure “assumes the worst-case scenario that you take the high valuation of the financial authorities (factor 13.75) as base valuation for your exit tax. Instead, you could also find someone to assess the real value of your company, which is likely lower…”

A reasonable person could absolutely think it’s fair to impose a very high exit tax on someone who doesn’t want their books examined even when it would save them money.

If you ever had to deal with German tax authorities - assume the actual worst case scenario.