Many parties in parliament express their disdain with plans to raise VAT tariffs

There has already been resistance in parliament towards plans for a possible raise of the highest VAT from 21 percent to 21.4 percent. A limited raise in this tariff is one of the proposals the State Secretary Tjebbe van Oostenbruggen of Financials picked up after visiting the parties in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament. He will discuss all options in the Cabinet and then send a letter regarding this to the Tweede Kamer.

VVD, PVV, and SGP have already been critical of the plans that were leaked via the AD on Wednesday. “You can be assured that I wasn’t enthusiastic when opening the newspaper,” said VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius during a presentation of a plan from her party in favor of workers.

PVV leader Geert Wilders also criticized the plans on X. “None of it! No VAT raise. We are not doing that! The prices are already way too high. "Find cover for the budget gap in less development aid!"

This came after he had already written on X that he feels people need additional tax relief because everything is becoming more expensive. At the same time, the leader of the largest political party in the country has said that he will not accept any cuts and also “not an extra cent on nitrogen, climate, defense or whatever without further reducing the burden on ordinary people."

GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans also resisted the higher prices. “The Cabinet decides to make life more expensive while so many people are currently struggling to make ends meet. Unthinkable and antisocial. GL-PvdA will be releasing a proposal to stop this plan this week,” he said on X.

The SGP is also not in favor of “making everything more expensive for everyone. The petrol and groceries are already expensive enough,” party leader Chris Stoffer wrote on X.

He reported that he wants “smart choices when it comes to VAT to meet families in the middle.” If the families do not benefit from it then the party will not support the proposals.

The Cabinet is looking for an alternative to an earlier plan, which would have resulted in the culture, sport, and books sectors falling under the highest VAT tariff. That plan was blocked by the Senate because the coalition parties did not have a majority there and had too little support from the opposition.