No Tax System Reforms before 2015
THE HAGUE, 20/06/13 - The cabinet will in any case not carry out possible reforms of the tax system before 2015, says Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem. He was giving his reactions to the report by the Dijkhuizen Commission on simplifying the tax system.
The commission headed by former finance ministry Thesaurus-General Kees Dijkhuizen came out this week with recommendations for a reform of the tax system. Among other things, it urged a lower wealth tax, the introduction of just two income tax rates (37 and 49 percent), and raising VAT to 23 percent. Dijsselbloem says it is a ‘golden rule’ once in 10 years to clean up the tax system or make it fairer. The last big changes were in 2001. Nonetheless, little will change in the short term. The cabinet will seriously study the report, but possible changes are for the long term, and in any case not for next year, said the minister on business news programme RTLZ. Many of the Van Dijkhuizen commission’s proposals have been badly received by employer organisations VNO-NCW and MKB. "Directors-big shareholders (DGAs) are particularly hard hit in the proposals. Their companies, which provide work for many hundreds of people, form the backbone of the Dutch business world," they said in a joint statement. VNO-NCW and MKB are referring mainly to the proposals for taxing capital in companies and forcing DGAs to take a higher salary for themselves so that their profits are lower. They also reject proposal to raise VAT to 23 percent. |