Dutch Tax authority ignored children's rights when abolishing childcare allowance: Children's Ombudsman

The Dutch Tax Authority acted contrary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child when it discontinued the childcare allowance of over 200 families in 2014. The tax office did not adequately take the interests of these children into account, Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer wrote in a letter to the Tax Authority, which is in the possession of Trouw.

Kalverboer insists that the Tax Authority from now on always take the interests of children into account when making decisions. According to the Children's Ombudsman, the Tax Authority's systems will have to be adjusted, because a lot of its decision making is fully automated.

In 2017 the National Ombudsman published a damning report about what had gone wrong in this case. According to the Ombudsman, parents' objections were endlessly ignored and many parents had to stop working because they could no longer afford childcare.

Trouw previously reported based on internal documents that the Tax Authority deliberately rejected parents' objections and withheld internal documents during court proceedings launched by parents.