Gov't pressing forward with plans to increase sales tax on books, culture, entertainment

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, has repeatedly pressed the government to phase out tax schemes, including the low VAT rate, Finance Minister Eelco Heinen emphasized. In a parliamentary debate, he defended the government’s decision to scrap the low VAT rate for books, sports, and culture.

The reduced VAT rate is ineffective, evaluations showed, And tax schemes that do not work well only complicate the system and must be abolished, it was agreed. “These are simply facts. They are before us.” According to the Minister, the government is taking the “first steps” toward simplifying VAT.

Heinen had to acknowledge that the government still chose to maintain all kinds of exceptions. A museum ticket will soon be subject to the regular VAT rate of 21 percent, but a cinema ticket will still be subject to the low rate of 9 percent. The difference between glamping sites (higher rate) and campsites where you have to pitch your own tent (lower rate) is often mentioned in politics. “Here you see the problem: you start making exceptions and it becomes more complex again.”

Heinen’s remarks were, therefore, a sore point for some parties. D66 MP Hans Vijlbrief thinks the Cabinet is “totally inconsistent” and also called it a wrong choice to then include books under the higher rate. Pieter Grinwis (ChristenUnie) told the Minister that the Cabinet should have chosen to work toward complete abolition of the lower rate.