News item | 14-10-2022 | 17:00
The Dutch business climate is under pressure and that requires action from the cabinet. Businesses are the engine of the economy. Thanks to a strong business community, we have a high level of prosperity and well-being in the Netherlands and we can pay for our social services, roads, healthcare and education. On a proposal from Minister Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Climate, the Council of Ministers, also on behalf of State Secretary Van Rij of Finance (Fiscality and Tax Authorities), has approved measures to ensure that the Netherlands remains attractive for companies to do business. In this way, European rules and standards will become the starting point for companies and the government is striving for a stable tax climate.
The Netherlands has traditionally had a good starting position internationally: due to its location, infrastructure, international connections, a highly educated workforce, a healthy living environment, the fiscal climate and a stable government. But this position is not self-evident. Entrepreneurs have various concerns, such as energy price increases. The Energy Costs Compensation Scheme (TEK) will therefore be introduced for energy-intensive SMEs. The government is tackling the shortage on the labor market by encouraging people to work more hours and to develop lifelong, and by stimulating technology and process innovation.
European rules and standards as a starting point
At the moment there is no clarity about the impact of new policy on the international competitive position of the Dutch business community. That is why the cabinet is introducing the ‘Impact test for the business climate’. This test should clarify how the Dutch translation of EU rules relates to comparable policies in other (European) countries and what the effect is on our competitive position. Adriaansens: “My starting point is: as much as possible the same rules for entrepreneurs in the Netherlands as for their competitors in the EU.”
The government wants to prevent tax competition between countries, because it can lead to opportunities for companies to avoid tax. The Netherlands is therefore in favor of international agreements on the taxation of internationally operating companies. When determining tax measures at the national and international level, the government keeps an eye on the effects on the business climate and business climate. Stability is important for companies that have to decide on (large) investments that have to be earned back over many years. Adriaansens: “Stability and predictability must once again become the DNA of government policy for companies. Better boring policy than yo-yo policy.”
Stronger commitment to innovative ecosystems
The cabinet has chosen to pay extra attention to the strong, innovative ecosystems that we have in our country, such as Brainport Eindhoven, Leiden Bioscience Park and Agri-Food Wageningen. The quality of the collaboration between large, smaller and starting companies, knowledge institutions, governments and other stakeholders within those ecosystems is a unique strength of our country. Startups and scale-ups are the drivers of innovation. That is why the cabinet is working on an approach to allow these companies to continue to grow. The government also wants to support large, internationally operating companies in these ecosystems with the bottlenecks they experience to keep them in the Netherlands. Companies are essential to make our economy and society more sustainable, to digitize it and to make it even more resilient.