Rutte: Not enough political support to force the king to pay taxes

Prime Minister Mark Rutte will not heed the call from the Tweede Kamer to scrap the tax exemption for some members of the Dutch royal family. The proposal requires a constitutional amendment, and parliament does not have the two-thirds majority required to pass that, he said in a letter.

King Willem-Alexander, King Máxima, Princess Amalia and Princess Beatrix, the former queen, are exempt from taxes under Article 40 of the Constitution. When the royal family's budget was discussed in October, political party DENK submitted a motion calling on the government to abolish that exemption. That proposal was adopted with a simple majority against Rutte's advice.

The parties that voted in favor of the motion together account for 90 seats in the Tweede Kamer. At least 100 votes are needed to reach a two-thirds majority among the 150 members of Parliament. An amendment to the constitution is "not an issue if no sufficient constitutional support can actually be established for this," Rutte said. Therefore, he will not carry out the motion.

At the time, the Tweede Kamer also made a point about the increase in the allowance that the king receives. This will rise by 276,000 euros this year to more than 6.4 million euros. A parliamentary majority suggested that it would be a positive statement should Willem-Alexander refuse that increase in view of the money worries many Dutch people have.