Minister concerned by parliament's plan to cut expat tax break
Outgoing Minister Micky Adriaansens of Economic Affairs called it “very worrying” that the Tweede Kamer wants to cut the tax scheme for expats, commonly called the 30 percent ruling. This won’t help anyone in the long run, she said, NOS reports.
On Thursday, the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, adopted an amendment by Pieter Omtzigt, GroenLinks-PvdA, and ChristenUnie to phase out the 30 percent ruling and use the 200 million euros that would raise to lower the interest rate on student loans for the “unlucky generation” of students who missed out on the basic study grant.
Adriaansens stressed that staff shortages are one of the main reasons companies leave the Netherlands and that companies that work with “knowledge,” in particular, need expats. “In the end, this does not help, not even for students who would like to work for a company,” Adriaansens said before the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Now that the Tweede Kamer has adopted this motion, Adriaansens is pinning her hopes on the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate. “I hope there will also be a good conversation there.”
Outgoing Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf of Education wouldn’t comment on the measure. Asked whether parliament saved the unlucky generation, Dijkgraaf said that the Kamer adopted various amendments and the Cabinet will study them carefully. “Some are easier to implement than others. There are all kinds of aspects to it, technical and legal. I understand the emotions of this generation of students very well.”
