The domestic budget leaves little room for extra expenditure, but the Cabinet still wants to come up with a package of measures to prevent the poorest people in the Netherlands from being unable to pay their bills. Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday after the regular weekly Council of Ministers meeting that he wanted to at least limit the decline in purchasing power for those households with the lowest incomes.
What the road pricing system will look like in 2030 is still almost entirely dependent on political choices, according to a series of studies commissioned by the government. Depending on which pricing variant the Cabinet chooses, the rates differ, for example, between petrol, diesel, or electric cars. But it is now expected to cost the citizen about 7 to 8 cents per kilometer.
Since the 2001 tax reform, the wealthiest people in the Netherlands have paid less and less tax, Follow the Money reports based on a memo created by officials from the Ministry of Finance after investigating how the super-rich avoid taxes. According to the memo, the Tax Authority is “resigned” to the tricks rich people use to pay as little tax as possible.