The new leftist Amsterdam city council coalition of the GreenLeft – PvdA – D66 and the SP is seriously considering some powerful policy changes to tackle Amsterdam’s biggest challenges such as (lack of) housing, overcrowded streets and the traffic situation. Sources at city hall have confirmed that an ‘expat tax’ is one of these new measures that will be implemented as soon as the coalition has agreed upon their package of policy changes.
An Expat Tax for all internationals registered in Amsterdam
The law is eyeing a 104 euro flat tax fee per month for every international citizen without Dutch citizenship. It’s still unclear if this new expat tax will be established for only non-EU citizens or will also apply to regular EU-citizens. But Lex Grappenmaker, a spokesperson for D66, said that with the Brexit in sight, and more British people piling up in the city center, the tax will definitely be enforced on the Brits living in Amsterdam as well.
The tax is aimed at having more houses available for ‘Amsterdammers’ instead of expats, pushing back on the ever-increasing level of English spoken on the streets of Amsterdam and making the city more liveable in general.
Other ambitious plans by Amsterdam’s new city council
Besides the new expat tax the left-leaning coalition also has a number of other creative plans. Taxes for automobile drivers will be doubled and there will be a 75% extra tax on all Airbnb bookings in the city in order to drive back the Italian stoner problems the city is currently facing.
With all these new funds the city aims to build a bridge across the IJ-river (finally!). They will also try to get the renovation of Amsterdam Central station done within a year by hiring the Rotterdam firm that completed Rotterdam Central station in a record time.
Furthermore, they aim to build dozens of new skyscrapers in order to tackle the housing problems and house more British firms making the move to the Netherlands (Barclays, Tesco, and Aston Martin are reportedly making the move as well).
The new leftist Amsterdam city council has serious plans for a bridge across the IJ, unveiling of plans will be tomorrow at 1-4 pic.twitter.com/f1Sqs4SFO4
— DutchReview (@Dutchreviewing) 31 maart 2018
An announcement of the plans will be tomorrow in the Vondelpark
A semi-official announcement of these policy measures will follow tomorrow in the Vondelpark during a hippie-like gathering. In order to shore up support for the plans, 4/20 is also designated to be an official day off for all Amsterdammers, Kingsday will be a three-day long event with subsidized beer prices (expats will be exempt) and the unveiling of a 25-feet high naked statue of Trump in order to permanently mock the few rightwing people still left in the city.
What do you think of the new plans by Amsterdam? Should we at DutchReview start a protest movement against the new expat tax? Let us know what you think!
April Fools’ Day comes early!