Jort Kelder believes that rich people pay far too much tax in the Netherlands. For that reason, he sometimes wishes he were German, the TV star writes. “It has to be fairer.”
It bothers Jort Kelder immensely that there is a broad political push to tax high incomes more heavily. He believes that far too much tax is already levied on people like him in the Netherlands. And he also hears that in his circles. “Is it done with bullying the elite now?” he writes in a column for it F.D.
World champion
Jort is extremely annoyed that people keep saying that everything should be ‘fairer’. We are really too equal in this country, he complains. “An official study calculates that the Netherlands is the world champion in leveling by income.”
Only the Czech Republic is slightly more equal according to certain statistics, he knows. “But Eastern Bloc states are only just getting to grips with the market economy.”
Top rate
The top rate in the Netherlands is 49.5 percent; half of all income above 73 thousand euros therefore goes to the state. “That fate affects 1.3 million taxpayers in box 1. If only we were Germans, who only have to deal with the ‘Reichensteuersatz’ of 45 percent from 277,826 euros.”
Half a million compatriots take more than a tonne gross per year, but only 1.1 percent of families have that net left over, according to Jort. “It is narrow at the broad shoulders.”
‘Must be more honest’
Ten percent of those affected now provide a quarter of all revenues, Jort grumbles. And according to him, this situation is only becoming more dire due to the increased tax burden at the top in all tax boxes.
We are led by ‘honesty evangelists’, Jort complains. But he himself thinks that taxation in our country is not fair at all. “They can’t make it more socialist. More honest.”