A striking number of parties participating in the November 22 elections want taxes to be increased for those with a lot of money. Parties you might not initially expect, such as CDA, BBB and PVV, even decide on an additional millionaire tax of 1 percent. This emerges from the election programs and the parties’ responses to the statements in the election guidelines.
All political parties currently represented in the House of Representatives want to reduce taxes on labor income, especially for low- and middle-income earners. They believe that work should be paid more.
Many parties attribute this reduction in income tax to the exit from the welfare system. The idea is that people who have more of their salary remaining will no longer need these complex benefits to supplement their income.
There is also a lot of support for wealthy Dutch people to pay more taxes. 11 parties even want a special millionaires’ tax for anyone with a fortune of more than 1 million euros. This doesn’t just affect traditionally left-wing parties. According to Stemwijzer, PVV and BBB also decide to do this, although it is not included in their election manifestos.
According to the latest figures from Statistics Netherlands, 317,000 households were millionaires in 2021. This is four percent of households in the Netherlands. Two-thirds of these millionaires were self-employed at the time. Most millionaires are in the financial services, agriculture, and real estate rental and trading industries.
Millionaires are still being created every year, but it should be noted that their euros are also losing value due to inflation.
Reduce differences
Almost all parties, from left to right, need more money in everyone’s working wallet. Some also want to reduce the gap between high and low income through taxes.
In Stemwijzer, the question “whether high-income earners should pay more income tax than they currently do” is answered in the affirmative by a wide party group (see table).
Almost all parties support revising the wealth tax in Box 3. This tax is currently based on a fictitious return, but from 2027 it is based on real income and profits from assets and investments.
Political support for raising more money through this wealth tax is also growing (see chart). The CDA is taking a slightly different approach: It wants to increase inheritance and gift taxes to tax assets more heavily.
Millionaire tax uncertain
In principle, judging by the current polls, the introduction of an additional millionaire tax could be expected by the majority, but it is still quite unclear whether this will actually happen after the election. The two largest parties in the polls, NSC van Omtzigt and VVD, oppose this. These parties are likely to be included in the formation.
But party leader Yeşilgöz’s VVD is not completely deaf to the demand for higher taxes on the rich, as can be seen when you read the election manifesto. He says: “We are also looking at where we can make the relationship between labor costs and capital costs fairer. “At the same time, this should not be an excuse for taxing home ownership, pensions or the middle class.”
In a statement to NOS, NSC said it advocates solidarity in the tax system so that the strongest shoulders carry the heaviest burdens. Omtzigt’s party is determined to tax people’s real returns on their assets much more heavily. This could mean, for example, that people who own a second home will have to pay more taxes, according to a spokesperson.
Comparisons between election programs do not claim to be complete. Parties sometimes formulate their positions in such a way that a one-to-one comparison is not possible. The election programs of all parties can be followed on their websites.
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
