Remember last January, when the Dutch cabinet seemed really set on making the Royal Family pay income tax? Well, it’s all in the past: Prime Minister Schoof has announced that he has no plans to do such a thing.
Schoof declared his unwillingness to set the plan into motion during a session of parliamentary questions about the King’s budget, reports the RTL.
It seemed like a done deal
Schoof’s statement came as a surprise: in January, the House of Representatives had passed a motion to amend the constitution to scrap the Royal Family’s exemption from income tax.
The motion wasn’t enough to make it into law yet, as a majority vote of two-thirds of the parliament is needed to change the constitution — however, for the first time in years, this looked achievable.
The motion, proposed by D66’s politician Joost Sneller, had garnered the support of the PVV, NSC, and BBB, which at the time were poised to enter the new government coalition.
Why is the plan scrapped, then?
Schoof has cited two reasons why he “sees no reason to put a proposal into procedure.”
First, he thinks it is unnecessary “from the perspective of stability of the finances of the Royal House” — what about their subjects’ financial stability?
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Secondly, he is unsure about whether the proposal would have the necessary majority support in parliament.
To be fair, things have changed quite a bit since January in that department: two out of the four parties in the current coalition, the VVD and BBB, have expressed doubts about the proposal.
The deal, then, is far from done — the King can let out a sigh of royal relief. 😮💨
What do you think of Schoof’s statement? You can express your peasant thoughts in the comments below — for free!
Apart from being the King and a jolly nice one too – why should the royals be exempt from paying income taxes? UK has the same exclusions for a very uber wealthy family who do a bit of charity work but basically live their lives tax free. They get to keep their wealth while others even pensioners pay tax on their income.