Petition urges cabinet to drop €7.8bn income tax rise
Unions, charities and four opposition parties want the cabinet to take the money from the richest 1% instead, three weeks before the Tweede Kamer votes on the tax plan on 12 November.
A broad coalition of civil society groups has launched a petition with opposition parties Pro, SP, PvdD and Volt to stop the cabinet's planned rise in tax on labour. Backers include the FNV union federation, Oxfam Novib, the Landelijke Studentenvakbond (the national student union) and the citizens' movement DeGoedeZaak.
The cabinet's plan would raise income tax permanently by €7.8bn, partly to help pay for higher defence spending. The petition calls on the cabinet to raise the money from the richest 1% of Dutch people instead.
Pro MP Luc Stultiens says the current split of the tax burden between the rich and workers is "not fair" and bad for the economy.
The Tweede Kamer votes on the Belastingplan (the annual tax plan) on 12 November. Several right-leaning opposition parties are attaching conditions to their support.
Ja21 wants firm guarantees that municipalities will not be forced to take in asylum seekers, even though that conflicts with the spreidingswet, the dispersal law. The SGP wants the cabinet to drop its latest abortion plans and the surrogacy bill.
BBB is using the tax plan as leverage to force far-reaching changes to the cabinet's latest nitrogen plans. Party leader Henk Vermeer wants new, concrete proposals the whole farming sector can back, and no more vague promises.
More on taxes and benefits · cabinet and parliament
Guide: Dutch income tax brackets and rates 2026
Follow the story: Spreidingswet
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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.
Spreidingswet
The law that spreads the reception of asylum seekers across Dutch municipalities. Each province and municipality is asked to provide a share of the places; a municipality that does not can be placed under supervision and, in the end, instructed by the minister.
Belastingplan
The Belastingplan is the annual tax bill in which the Dutch cabinet sets out changes to taxes and levies, such as income tax rates and tax reliefs, for the coming year. It is presented with the national budget on Prinsjesdag and must be passed by both the Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer, so it directly determines what households and businesses pay.