This week we can go to the polls for the city council. Every party has its own plans and every municipality its own approach, but how do the municipal council and the election results affect your wallet?
“It is often thought that left-wing parties opt for higher taxes and more extensive provisions for residents,” says Maarten Allers, researcher at the Center for Research on the Economy of Lower Governments (Coelo). On the other hand, right-wing parties would opt for lower taxes and a small government. But whatever changes take place to the left or right, tax policy is not adjusted. It does not matter which parties are on the council, or in the college, for the amount of local taxes.”
Together with Harm Rienks, Allers investigated the influence of the local vote on municipal taxes. They studied the period from 1998 to 2021, in which municipal elections were held six times. During that period, the composition of the council and the college changed regularly. Conclusion? The political composition of municipal councils or colleges appeared to have no effect whatsoever on the level of municipal taxes.
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The vast majority of a municipality’s income comes from the state
Income comes from the state
Michiel de Vries, professor of public administration at Radboud University in Nijmegen, explains: “The vast majority of a municipality’s income comes from the government and that largely determines what that money should be spent on.”
“That’s quite strange, from an international perspective, the Netherlands is also one of the few countries where the municipalities do a lot of executive work, but have only little income of their own. And that while the expenses are high. Municipalities can determine very little in the area of spending themselves.”
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In theory, the municipality can increase the tax to build an expensive swimming pool. In practice you rarely see this
High investments affect?
But what if your municipality wants to invest in a very expensive swimming pool or a new tram connection, will residents not see that reflected in the tax? Allers: ,,In theory, the municipality can increase the tax to build an expensive swimming pool. You rarely see this in practice, because city councilors are afraid that voters will penalize tax increases.”
According to Allers, the results of the survey do not show that voters have no influence at all on local taxes: “When administrators who raise taxes are punished in the elections, then voters do have influence,” Allers said.
De Vries: ,,I wonder whether parties will be judged on this in the next elections. Go to Kieswijzer and search for one question about what happened in the past four years. There isn’t one. The statements are about election programs for the coming years. Parties would rather tell you what they want to do than what they have or have not actually done.”
11.5 billion in taxes
Out figures from the CBS last month it turned out that municipalities expect to receive 11.5 billion euros from taxes this year. The property tax (ozb), the waste levy and the sewer levy are the three levies that yield the most. Together, with 8.8 billion euros in 2022, they will account for more than three quarters of all municipal taxes.
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