Rich should pay more taxes: PvdA's Samson

The Cabinet of Rutte II must use the rest of its time in government, until 2017, for at least one big reform on taxes that makes working more attractive and demands more taxes from the rich. This position comes from PvdA-leader Diederik Samson, who tells the Volkskrant that the Cabinet should hold back less and must make big investments that boost the economy and employment. Samson wants to push for action in the Cabinet formed by himself and VVD-leader Rutte as most coalition agreement reforms are still surrounded by scaffolding after a year and a half in government. This has led to discussions in the coalition about how to move further. VVD-fraction leader Halbe Zijlstra suggested that the coalition agreements should be expanded with a tax reform by scrapping the allowances that currently complicate the system. Samsom finds Zijlstra's suggestion rather weak. He wants a 'tax shift' that would see less taxing on labor and more on wealth. "For people with a bit of savings money, the assumed output of four percent is too high, while the wealth at the top only grows, and rentiers are taxed to little. It should be the other way around." Samsom points to research that shows one percent of Dutch people rule over 23 percent of the country's capital. "The share of wealth in this country is extremely unfair. With capital you can become richer very quickly and with labor evidently not." The PvdA-leader acknowledges that he is headed for a collision-course with his liberal coalition partner, but thinks that the coalition can handle it. "We have bridged over many more differences. If you only organize the system as efficient as possible and further nothing, then society becomes more unequal. You also let an assignment down." The initiative should come from the Cabinet. A plan from the Van Dijkhuizen commission was left lying untouched for almost a year. Political commotion around the reformations in care, the housing market, the labor market and social security distracted from the issue. Now, Samson says the Cabinet doesn't have to wait. Samsom says he sees little of the Cabinet stimulating investments in the economy. He thinks pension funds, which administers €1,000 billion, should let the money roll. Especially to help push small and medium-sized businesses forward and help create jobs. He also thinks that the Cabinet should assume some of the risk. "If you're endlessly bickering about who takes that risk, you never get anywhere, and the jobs disappear in the meantime. People are pulling themselves away from the labor market. The Cabinet should pull them across the line to invest. Or actually: push them over the line."