To get highly-skilled migrants to come to the Netherlands, they are offered a tax advantage lasting five years: 30 percent of their income here is tax-free. This also applies to lecturers and researchers from abroad.
Pieter Omtzigt thinks this scheme is unfair, because technically it leads to highly-skilled migrants earning more than their Dutch colleagues. What’s more, those higher incomes are said to result in unequal opportunities on the housing market.
Last October, Omtzigt submitted an amendment to reduce the scheme. This is to yield tens of millions of euros. He wants to use this money to lower the interest for the students belonging to the ‘bad luck generation’. All parties except for VVD supported his amendment in the House of Representatives.
‘Open character’
But things are different in the Senate. There, VVD filed a motion against this amendment. Cosignatories are BBB, CDA, JA21, D66 and 50Plus. Together, these parties hold 41 of the 75 seats in the Senate.
The parties claim that 'the measure has a negative impact on the open character of the economy in the Netherlands, while the country’s future earning capacity depends on this'. The amendment also affects sectors 'that depend on highly-skilled migrants, including companies in tech and higher education'.
That’s why the cabinet needs to evaluate the highly-skilled migrant scheme in the short term and then make an ‘alternative proposal’ before the reduction takes effect in 2025, reads the motion that was filed during the debate on the Tax Plan. It will be put to the vote on Tuesday.
Evaluation
State secretary for CDA Marnix van Rij (Finance) said in the debate that there will be an evaluation in May. He hopes the Senate is willing to shelve the motion until then, if only because the cabinet is outgoing. Van Rij doesn’t know 'whether the ball is in our court or that of the next cabinet' and therefore doesn’t want to speculate about an alternative.
