Cabinet party NSC says their plans for VAT rise were dismissed too quickly

Government party NSC thinks that the idea to raise VAT in order to prevent tariff increases on the culture, media, and sport sectors from rising was “taken off the table too quickly.” MP Nicolien van Vroonhoven made these comments during a debate about raising VAT, in a motion that was partly submitted by the NSC.

State Secretary for Finance, Tjebbe van Oostenbruggen, was assigned by the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, to look for an alternative plan rather than the VAT increase. The NSC minister was initially asked to find another measure within VAT to raise the more than 1 billion euros. But now, a large majority in the Tweede Kamer also wants to look into other options.

Van Oostenbruggen recently checked whether other parties would be willing to agree to raise the highest VAT tariff by 0.4 percent. This proposal was leaked, which led to almost the entire Tweede Kamer turning against it. “Huge shame,” Van Vroonhoven said about this. She maintains that the money needs to be raised with VAT. The state secretary also said the same in a parliament letter earlier this week.

When CDA member Inge van Dijk asked for clarification about this turn of events by NSC, Van Vroonhoven accused her of "whining.” She emphasized that she only wanted to indicate that as far as she was concerned "all options are on the table,” and that NSC as a coalition party wants to think along "constructively" with the opposition. Van Vroonhoven added that she wants to prevent “at all costs” that the original plan, which is already set in law, is implemented after all.

Parliament also discussed the matter of VAT last week. Emotions were high during that debate, partly because Van Oostenbruggen brought up options but did not actually submit a proposal.

The letter that he sent to the Tweede Kamer has not yet cooled down the tensions. “Interesting info,” said Hans Vijlbrief of D66, who also noted the absence of a concrete proposal. "I think we still have a long way to go together," said CDA member Van Dijk.