The four government parties are currently holding talks about the budget. The Spring Memorandum must receive the House of Representatives from the cabinet before June and provides an up-to-date state of affairs with regard to the current budget and the windfalls and setbacks.
Taxes up
The cabinet is struggling with a billion-dollar setback due to a number of unexpectedly high cost items. Compensation of people who have paid too much savings tax is already in the billions of euros. More money needs to go to Defense. Reception of refugees from Ukraine is in trouble. And so there are a number of unforeseen expenses that add up to well above ten billion euros.
“It’s a complicated puzzle,” Rutte repeated.
How are we going to feel that?
The coalition is looking at how this budget gap can be closed. Although the prime minister is not yet ready to give details about the outcome of the budget talks, he does say that “he does not want to give the impression that nothing is being done about the burden”. Taxes will go up anyway. He did not say which groups this will apply to and what the costs are. For citizens it is still the question of what the exact effects are, Rutte said. “We are going to look at the division between citizens and companies.”
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Tonight the coalition will meet again to solve the budget puzzle. Probably more consultation is needed before they are out. “We need this week or maybe the weeks after,” said the prime minister. There is still three billion euros in load lighting on the shelf, intended for the middle groups. That money has yet to be filled in. But Rutte did not want to say anything about that interpretation either.
Earlier this week, Minister Sigrid Kaag (Finance) already said during her weekly conversation with RTL Z that she ‘in recent weeks has practiced a lot on the word no’. Ministers often try to bring in extra money prior to the Spring Memorandum.
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