International

SP leader Emile Roemer is pleased by the government’s decision to withdraw proposals to make unlawful presence in the Netherlands a criminal offence, describing the proposed measure as ‘an abuse of human rights’ which ‘has now been thrown out, and that’s good news.’ On the other hand he is less pleased by the way in which this was achieved, calling the deal between the two governing parties – Labour (PvdA) and the right-wing liberals (VVD) – as ‘unsavoury’, on the grounds that part of the agreement gives people on high incomes an additional tax advantage. ‘High income groups will profit from this fresh exchange of principles between PvdA and VVD. They will get a tax advantage, and those on low incomes will soon be getting the bill for this,’ he says. ‘And that’s on top of the fact that at the end of last year those on the very highest incomes have already been granted a tax advantage costing us half a billion.’

It was announced today that the PvdA and the VVD had arrived at an agreement on the withdrawal of the proposals to make unlawful presence in the Netherlands a criminal offence. In exchange, tax relief for those earning between €40,000 and €110.000 will be increased, giving them an additional tax advantage. The measure will cost €500 million, a sum of money which must be found somewhere else in the budget and could be taken from health care, those on low incomes or social security.

‘Half of the population earns under the modal average of €33,500 euro and will thus gain nothing from this proposal’ Roemer points out. ‘Worse still, for the hundred thousand children living in poverty, no money is available, yet a half billion euros can be found for those on high incomes.’