Surcharges increased, more asylum reception, smoking, drinks and campers more expensive. And for the North, many nice words and at least no deterioration. These are the most striking five points from the Speech from the Throne and Budget Memorandum of the last Rutte cabinet.
1. Purchasing power
Because inflation is reducing everyone’s purchasing power, the government is taking measures to ease the pain for lower and middle incomes. The rent allowance, the child-related budget and the employment tax credit will increase. Families with children in particular should notice this.
The government partly pays for this by making a group of higher income earners pay more taxes. Everyone now pays a rate of 49.5 percent on their income above 73,000 euros. That limit was actually going to be increased to 80,000 euros, but the cabinet has decided to leave the limit at almost 75,000 euros. Without even noticing it, many people with higher incomes pay more taxes. This was also necessary because the government is losing a lot of money by abolishing the savings tax.
2. Asylum policy
The government is allocating 4 billion euros for asylum policy. More shelter places are needed for this. The fixed capacity must increase to 41,000 places. The government is thus correcting a mistake from recent years; many reception places had actually been rejected. That’s why things got stuck in Ter Apel. No new measures against nuisance in Ter Apel are planned, but ultimately this policy should lead to better flow and outflow of refugees.
The extra 4 billion is offset by a cut of 400 million in development cooperation.
3. Roads and rail
The existing plans for roads and rail will remain in place. This means that no new roads or railway lines will be constructed for the time being, but all 10 billion euros reserved for them will be spent on maintenance. Due to the nitrogen problems and lack of personnel and materials, little new construction can be done.
The Lower Saxony line from Groningen to Emmen is not mentioned, but plans for it continue as promised. This also applies to the Lely line from Lelystad to Groningen. The 3 billion euros that have been set aside for this will remain untouched. That was still exciting because cuts had to be made, but 1.5 billion that was ready for the North-South line from Amsterdam to Schiphol is now being scrapped.
4. Smoking, drinking, RVs and gasoline
A pack of 20 cigarettes would cost 10 euros next year, but will become slightly more expensive: 10.70 euros. The excise duty on rolling tobacco and drinks will also increase further. The government also wants to further increase the excise duty on petrol, but a majority of the House of Representatives is against this. This will only be fought out on Wednesday and Thursday during the General Deliberations.
There is also an increase for camper owners. They currently pay a quarter of the normal rate, but that will be half.
5. North
The government is keeping its promises to Groningen. In the Speech from the Throne, the king announced that the restoration and strengthening of homes in the earthquake area will continue. Just as with the handling of the benefits affair, victims should not experience any delays due to the fall of the cabinet, it is said. The commitments to Groningen for social reinforcement and economic plans also remain standing.
The government has many nice words for the region, but has not yet translated them into much concrete policy. There is talk of Regional Deals, but that had already been promised. The cabinet also wants to talk about spreading government services, which could potentially create more government jobs in the North, but that is still very vague.