SP pushes for wealth cap of €50 mil., €18 per hour minimum wage in election campaign

The SP wants to raise the minimum wage to 18 euros an hour from the current rate, which is 14.40 euros per hour. Furthermore, they want all benefits to rise in line with the minimum wage, and the minimum youth wage to be abolished. This is stated in the party's draft election manifesto, which will be presented on Thursday.

The draft also includes plans to make health insurance premiums income-dependent, to bring public transportation and energy services under government control, and to add 1 million homes with rents of up to 800 euros.

Some of the parties' plans are fairly well developed, such as raising the minimum wage. The nationalization of energy services under public control, however, is a proposal in which the implementation and consequences are not yet addressed in the manifesto.

The SP plans on increasing the tax rate on the wealthiest people in the Netherlands to make the plans possible. The plan is to introduce a wealth cap of 50 million euros, with any amount above this to be used for implementing policy. The SP also wants to introduce a 5 percent tax on all wealth exceeding 5 million euros.

Jimmy Dijk will once again be the SP’s lead candidate; in recent years, he served as the party’s parliamentary leader in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament.

MPs Bart van Kent and Michiel van Nispen will step down after the election. Van Kent has been in the Tweede Kamer for eight years, and Van Nispen for 11.