# Jetten cabinet has no majority for tax plan before debate

> Talks with seven opposition parties produced no deal on Saturday, leaving the minority Jetten cabinet without a majority days before Wednesday's Tweede Kamer debate on measures due to start on 1 January.

Politics · published 2026-10-31 17:35 · https://nlnow.nl/a/cabinet-fails-to-win-opposition-backing-for-tax-plan/

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.

## Background

- **Catshuis**: The prime minister's official residence in The Hague. It is used mainly for meetings and receptions, such as talks between the cabinet, employers and unions.
- **Eerste Kamer**: The Senate, the upper house of the Dutch parliament. It cannot amend bills but can approve or reject them after the Tweede Kamer has passed them. Its 75 members are elected by the members of the provincial councils.
- **belastingplan**: The belastingplan is the annual tax plan: the government's yearly package of changes to taxes and contributions, such as income tax rates, tax brackets, and tax credits, that applies from 1 January of the following year. The cabinet presents it with the national budget on Prinsjesdag, the third Tuesday of September, and both chambers of parliament must approve it before it takes effect. Because it needs a majority in parliament, a cabinet without a stable majority must negotiate its content with other parties.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/