Tax plan lacks majority days before Thursday's vote

CDA leader Henri Bontenbal said on Saturday that the minority coalition of D66, VVD and CDA has reached a crucial moment. Speaking at the CDA congress in Almere, he said his party will do "everything" to break the impasse over the tax plan (belastingplan). The Tweede Kamer votes on it on Thursday.

The cabinet sent the plan to parliament again this week, with some changes, after months of difficult talks with the opposition. Hours of debate produced no majority. The Senate will vote at the end of this month.

The tax plan is the basis for tax revenue, Bontenbal said. He repeated that he considers it irresponsible to gamble on getting a majority for the plan in the Eerste Kamer, the Senate. "We in the CDA aren't keen on gambling," he said. "We are a party that wants to govern decently, a party that wants to bring stability."

He called on all fellow MPs to cooperate: "working together is stronger than insisting on being right." Parliament, he said, has a few days left to pull out all the stops to find majorities.

A split inside the coalition

Pro and Volt want to back the plan if €1.5bn is shifted from the tax on workers to the tax on the wealthy. The VVD says that plan goes against the coalition agreement and is bad for businesses, and calls it unthinkable that the coalition would back it "in this form". It says it is merely sticking to the coalition agreement.

At the congress he did not name the VVD. He thanked the ChristenUnie and 50Plus, saying they had played a very constructive role.

JA21 leader Joost Eerdmans is unimpressed by the coalition's appeals to opposition leaders. "That is not a serious attempt at a conversation," he said.