Cabinet sends tax plan to parliament without opposition deal
Finance Minister Eelco Heinen calls the route "fraught with risk" as he presents the opposition with a new offer. The tax plan has no guaranteed majority in parliament yet, though he says he is confident it will get one.
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Illustrative photo: Steven Lek / CC BY-SA 4.0
The cabinet is sending its tax plan (belastingplan) to parliament without a deal that guarantees it a majority. Finance Minister Eelco Heinen admits the route is "fraught with risk" and has put a new offer to the opposition.
Deputy prime minister and asylum minister Bart van den Brink (CDA) says it is "simply a very good tax plan". He accepts, though, that no agreement with the opposition yet guarantees the plan support in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of parliament.
Asked how the plan would win a majority, Van den Brink said that is ultimately the debate the Kamer will have, as it always does. "It's just that in the Netherlands we're used to there being agreements first, ones where you know there'll be a majority," he said. He is waiting for proposals from the Kamer.
Van den Brink spoke to reporters shortly before a special cabinet meeting (ministerraad). He gave nothing away about the decisions on the table.
Heinen said he is confident the tax plan can count on a majority in the Tweede Kamer, while acknowledging that "this whole route is obviously full of risks".
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Tweede Kamer
The House of Representatives, the lower and more powerful house of the Dutch parliament. Its 150 members are elected directly; it can amend bills and holds the cabinet to account.
belastingplan
The Dutch annual tax bill (belastingplan) is the package of tax law changes that the cabinet proposes to parliament each year, presented together with the budget on Prinsjesdag in September. It sets out changes to tax rates, allowances and rules that take effect in the following calendar year. It must be approved by both chambers of the States General before it can take effect, so its passage depends on a majority in parliament.
ministerraad
The Dutch cabinet meeting (ministerraad) is the meeting of all ministers and state secretaries, chaired by the prime minister, where the government takes its collective decisions. It is usually held weekly, and decisions taken there are formally made by the cabinet as a whole. A specially convened ministerraad is an extra meeting called outside the regular schedule.