Jetten cabinet has no majority for tax plan before debate

With a Tweede Kamer debate on Wednesday and a vote on 12 November, the minority Jetten cabinet still has no majority for its tax plan (belastingplan). Saturday's talks with seven opposition parties, at the Catshuis and online, ended without a deal.

The Tweede Kamer debates the package on Wednesday and votes on 12 November. The plan must then pass the Eerste Kamer. The tax measures take effect on 1 January, and the Belastingdienst needs enough time to prepare them. The opposition parties at the Catshuis point out that the plan must reach the Tweede Kamer by Tuesday at the latest, so that parliamentary groups can prepare.

JA21, SGP and BBB stayed away from the Catshuis but spoke to the cabinet online. Afterwards they said: "We haven't got there yet, but we see enough to keep talking." They call the route to a majority with the right-wing parties "a realistic option with a chance of succeeding".

ChristenUnie and 50Plus negotiate together. 50Plus leader Jan Struijs said: "It's tense. The homework isn't done, the time pressure is huge and there's no majority yet." ChristenUnie's Mirjam Bikker said it worries her that the parties are at the Catshuis on a Saturday afternoon, that details must still follow and that majorities must still be found on several points. Both said the cabinet had listened to their wishes for the elderly, the chronically ill and ordinary hard-working families, and had gone some way to meeting them.

Pro leader Jesse Klaver said the cabinet is drifting further away from Pro and Volt: "There's no political will to work with us." Volt leader Laurens Dassen said a majority will not be found before Wednesday and that it now comes down to the debate. In his view, people whose bills are climbing and who struggle to get through the month do not get enough help.