Dutch business groups blast Cabinet’s energy relief package
Business leaders and policy experts reacted sharply to the Dutch Cabinet’s newly announced energy relief package on Monday, saying the measures fail to deliver meaningful support for smaller entrepreneurs and miss critical needs for the hardest-hit sectors.
Entrepreneurs “are totally not waiting” for the Cabinet’s steps that were intended to help the business community, said Erik Ziengs, chairman of Ondernemend Nederland (ONL). He argued the package works out especially badly for smaller businesses because the government is reducing the small-scale investment deduction and abolishing the starter’s deduction to finance the measures.
Ziengs also called the further increase in alcohol excise duties incomprehensible. “Alcohol is already much cheaper abroad, just like fuel and tobacco. The prices here are already so high that even more people will cross the border to Germany and Belgium to refuel and do their shopping there. There are now entire streets with an app group in which people take turns driving to Germany to stock up on all kinds of products,” he said.
The rise in the untaxed travel allowance from 23 to 25 cents per kilometer provides no real relief, according to Ziengs. “Many companies have long promised a higher allowance to their employees, based on the price at the pump. If you give a higher allowance than those 25 cents, it falls under special remuneration, and you get an extra tax assessment on top of that. That is unreasonable and simply not fair,” he said. He urged the government to channel higher value-added tax revenues from fuel back to entrepreneurs and consumers.
ONL, which represents tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, had already warned of sharply rising grocery prices. Research by the organization shows many small and medium-sized businesses will pass on sky-high fuel costs to consumers.
VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland said the package lacks support for the most severely affected companies and criticized how the measures are financed. Structural rules for small and starting businesses are being scrapped to fund temporary interventions, the organizations said.
They noted positive elements, such as help for the heavily impacted transport sector and all companies with trucks and delivery vans through lower motor vehicle taxes. “This, however, offers no solace for other companies with high fuel prices that cannot be passed on, such as professional passenger transport and groundworks. Here, additional agreements are needed,” they stated.
The groups described the financial problems facing some businesses as “a pressing point.” While the Cabinet is expanding guarantee measures, “more appropriate measures are needed, such as preparing tax deferral for if this situation lasts longer.”
They argued that the announced increase in the untaxed kilometer allowance should remain a temporary measure. The plan contains nothing about advancing coalition plans for sustainability in the energy-intensive industry, they noted. The Cabinet also offers no measures for the insurability of ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz.
The National Institute for Budget Information (Nibud) said it still has many questions about the energy measures and cannot yet say what they will mean for individual citizens. “It is too early to say that this is enough,” the institute stated.
Nibud welcomed the structural character of the measures and the focus on the lowest incomes. “Those people need it the hardest,” a spokeswoman said. She described the approach as better than earlier generic measures, such as the two payments of 190 euros in energy support. Once exact amounts are clear, Nibud will calculate the impact for citizens.
