Dutch Coalition Nears Collapse as D66 and CDA Cut Wealth-Tax Deal Around the VVD
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Nov. 12 — The Netherlands' minority coalition government came close to collapse on Thursday, less than nine months into its four-year term, after two of its three parties cut a tax deal with the opposition around the third. Prime Minister Rob Jetten's centrist D66 party and the center-right Christian Democrats (CDA) agreed late Wednesday with two center-left opposition parties, PRO and Volt, to back a scaled-back "millionaire's tax" in exchange for support for the government's 2027 tax plan, leaving the right-wing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) on the sidelines.
The deal shifts about €1 billion of tax burden from labor to capital: returns on savings and investments above €60,000 a year would be taxed at 38.5 percent, the rate below the threshold drops to 35.5 percent, and anti-avoidance measures are added, freeing room to cut taxes for workers. The original proposal was worth about €1.5 billion before being pared back to about €1 billion.
VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, who is also deputy prime minister, called the deal bad for the Netherlands and a breach of the coalition agreement, saying that if the other two parties vote for the amendment on Thursday, "we will also have to see how this cooperation can continue." Jetten canceled a trip to Dublin for a European Political Community meeting to attend Thursday's debate and vote in The Hague. Christian Democrat leader Henri Bontenbal told national broadcaster NOS before the debate that he wanted the coalition to survive and serve its full term.
The D66-VVD-CDA coalition holds only 66 of 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 22 of 75 in the Senate. The tax service needs the 2027 rates in time to produce provisional assessments, leaving parliament little room to delay, and the Senate is expected to review the plan in mid-December. Thursday's vote will decide whether the government survives.
(Source: Associated Press)
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：荷兰议会二院（Tweede Kamer）全会大厅全景。CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Plenary hall of the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer), panorama. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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