A shakeup in the Netherlands’ parliament is set to present the nation’s gambling industry with increased business taxes as the four leading parties agreed to form a coalition government.
The Party for Freedom (PPV) announced yesterday that it had agreed on a ‘basis of terms’ to form a coalition government with conservative counterparts of the Party for Freedom and Democracy, the New Social Contract party and the Farmer-Citizen Movement.
Having been stuck in negotiations with party leaders to form a new government since November, the PPV declared that it had overcome a major deadlock, presenting a ”budgetary appendix of coalition agreements” to Speaker of the House, Martin Bosma.
Carrying the title of “Hope, Courage and Pride”, the budget laid-out the quartet government’s fiscal plans related to taxation, expenditures, public investment and subsidies, with those in the gambling industry set to be hit with tax hikes.
Amongst policies on GDP spend and family tax reliefs, the budget detailed “an increase in gambling tax from 30.5 per cent to 37.8 per cent,” marked down as a ‘structural taxation increase’.
As noted in the appendix: “The gambling tax will be increased by €202m on a structural basis. This means a rate increase from 30.5 per cent to 37.8 per cent.”
The tax hikes have supposedly been on the “wish list of parties” within the Dutch government, according to Dutch gambling news source Casinonieuws.nl.
Prior to October’s general election, Party for Freedom and Democracy ministers submitted motions to increase Dutch gambling taxes by one per cent from from 29.5 per cent to 30.5 per cent, corresponding to total rise of around €26m.
As leader of the PPV, populist Geert Wilders agreed he will not serve as Dutch Prime Minister in a compromise to form the coalition government.
“The good news is that we have a negotiators’ agreement, but of course, this is only definitive when the parliamentary parties have also agreed,” Wilders stated
While it remains unknown who will be selected to lead the government, Wilders said: “We have spoken about the prime minister today and we will come back to that discussion at a later moment.”