October 30, 2020
13:20
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The De Croo government has an agreement in principle to continue with a new securities tax. But there is still work to be done on the bill of Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem, the government says.
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The CD&V Deputy Prime Minister has speeded up the tax world and a number of government parties. While previous statements by various Vivaldi party chairmen suggested that he should not come forward with a proposal for a ‘strong shoulder tax’ until the March 2021 budget control, Van Peteghem already placed a preliminary draft for a revision of the securities tax on the table of the core on Friday. (De Tijd 30/11) It is Prime Minister De Croo who is increasing the pressure, is noted in government circles. ‘Open VLD wants to draw attention to this file quickly’, it says.
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That speed has everything to do with the corona crisis. Now that the eyes of the government parties and the outside world are completely focused on corona, it is easier to get a very controversial tax vehicle sold politically. Certainly for the liberals, who are most strained with this tax on capital, which they fired when PS and N-VA talked about it this summer. With the fact that the proceeds must go to healthcare, the pill is communicatively rewarded. It is no coincidence that the government spin doctors put the name ‘solidarity contribution’ on the market.
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But there is a little too much pressure, it turns out. From the Van Peteghem cabinet, the message was explicitly sent out on Friday that ‘there is an agreement in principle in the core cabinet’, which was promptly contradicted by the PS and the sp.a. “The proposal is interesting, but not yet acceptable,” said PS Deputy Prime Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne (PS) spokesperson to De Standaard. At the sp.a it was sounded that there is no reason to rush things. “The most important thing is that we come up with a proposal that this time will remain legally valid, in contrast to the previous securities tax,” said the party spokesman. The MR also appears not to be completely at ease: especially now that tax experts say that Van Peteghem’s proposal can yield much more than the proposed 300 million euros.
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But nobody wants to bring things to a head. It is at the request of the socialists that a rich tax was included in the coalition agreement. Earlier, the sp.a itself submitted a bill to repair the securities tax. So it seems like a semantic battle that is going on: CD&V that wants to show that Van Peteghem has decisiveness and the socialists that let them know that they are the largest family in the government.
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According to some sources, there was a meeting between technicians “that went well” on Friday. It is expected that the file will quickly return to the core, after which it will be sent to the Council of State for review.
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