The richest Dutch people actually have twice as much wealth as previously thought, research shows. If you’ve been looking for something to make you angry this morning, then this is it.
The Ministry of Finance has been doing research recently on the Dutch tax system, which honestly we’re a little concerned that they needed to do research on. To be fair, though, their aim is virtuous: they’re looking at ways to reform the tax system to make it more progressive, NU.nl reports.
Previously, it was thought that these super-rich people, know as ‘substantial stakeholders’, had €200 billion euros of wealth. Now, it seems that they actually have €400 billion. ‘Substantial stakeholders’ are people who are in the top 1% of the wealthiest households in the Netherlands.
What are the major problems in the Dutch tax system?
Compared to most other European countries, the Netherlands has a relatively low tax on wealthy people, as well as on corporations. This is one of the major ‘bottlenecks’ in the system.
To make matters even less socialist, for middle class people there is little incentive to earn more, as their extra earnings are taxed at a disproportionately high rate. The Dutch tax system also doesn’t take harm to the environmental or to people’s health into account.
New Dutch tax system in the making
It’s for these reasons that the Ministry of Finance is doing this research, and potentially working on reforming the system. It has drawn up 169 building blocks for this new tax system, which would include alterations for the sharing economy, for taxes on flying or on eating meet, and has sent these to the House of Representatives for discussion.
What changes would you like to see in the Dutch tax system? Let us know in the comments below.
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