Employers want €18 billion income tax cut

VNO-NCW chairman Hans de Boer wants the income tax in its present form to be changed. He wants income up to 100 thousand euro to be taxed wit 35 percent, and a tax rate of 45 percent to apply to incomes above 100 thousand euro. "That is part of a tale that I tell this morning and is totally focused on economic growth in the Netherlands", De Boer said on BNR. With this plan De Boer wants to enforce more jobs. "So that two people who apply for a position does not have the possibility to get one job, but can apply for two vacancies. That makes life a lot easier in this country and that is what we want." He continues, "There are a few lines in that argument, but one of them is to do something about the price level of Dutch society, which is determined largely by the amount of our taxes, and especially our income tax." VNO-NCW wants to have "a simple income tax rate, in which 35 percent is paid on the amounts up to 100 thousand euros and 45 percent for amounts above that". "That can give a huge boost to the competitiveness of the Netherlands abroad, domestic spending and hence the growth in the number of jobs." The downside to De Boer's plan is that it will mean 18 billion euros less in state revenues. "Since the 2001, the burden for citizens er year have been increased by 35 billion euros." De Boer said. Citizens thus contribute 35 billion more to the government and pension funds than in 2001. "If what we are advocating for is done that will completely be borne by the public sector. That would mean that 18 billion euro will sift from the government to the pockets of the citizens. That's about half the amount that has been taken away from us in the past decade."