Democratic party calling for new tax on millionaires

D66 party leader Rob Jetten wants Dutch people who have more than a million euros to pay more tax on their wealth, and for the tax rate for small savers to be lowered, he said in his Kerdijk lecture at Sociëteit De Witte in The Hague, AD reports.

"Our taxes on capital, capital gains and capital transfers have been reduced over the past decades", Jetten said. At the same time, people who "put something aside with a great deal of pain and effort" earn hardly any interest, while people with a larger capital can take more risks and therefore get more returns. "With all the social consequences of that", he said.

The D66 leader also wants to get rid of the possibility of giving children up to 40 years 100 thousand euros tax free for the purchase of a home. According to Jetten, this gives children of wealthy parents a "new lead" in life, while they are already in a privileged position. "Don't get me wrong. It is heartily awarded to those proud parents and their happy children. But it has little to do with rewarding performance."

In his lecture, Jetten said that financial certainty has become 'inheritable'. According to him, highly-educated people reap the benefits of globalization, while those with a secondary- or practical level of education see globalization as a threat. For the latter group, permanent work is a rarity, buying a home is out of reach, renting a home is too expensive, and wages hardly increase. "One group stays behind, the other increases its prosperity and passes it on", Jetten said.

It is important to combat this dichotomy, Jetten said. In addition to higher taxes on the rich, the D66 leader calls for the establishment of a "new Dutch school" where an acceptance obligation applies and where all children have access to sports fields, theaters, music halls and study rooms. By making "privileges" like piano lessons, homework support and 'parents with a museum card' accessible to everyone, children must be prevented from falling behind.

Jetten also argues for more permanent jobs, minimum rates for freelancers, and for the "wage gap" to be tackled. According to him, the Netherlands is not yet dealing with "American conditions". But he added: "The CEOs of the 21 largest Dutch listed companies now earn 83 times as much as an average employee. We can expect more accountability from our CEOs for their role model position. More attention for the conveyance of their behavior. What happened to the self-control?"

Jetten's party has always been in favor of a progressive capital tax, where the tax rate increases according to the amount of capital. Despite this, the party retained the current system in its previous election program. Another salient detail is that during the previous government's reign, the D66 as constructive opposition party helped extend the gift tax exemption for up to 100 thousand euros for the purchase of a house.

The Kredijk lecture is named after the 19th century social liberal politician Anrold Kerdijk. Over the past years, this lecture was given by Job Cohen, Jetten's predecessor Alexander Pechtold, Sybrand Buma and Mark Rutte, according to the newspaper.