Dutch box 3 tax plan nears House majority, but Senate support is uncertain

A Dutch government plan to tax gains on shares and other assets in box 3 appears likely to win a majority in the House of Representatives, but support for the changes in the Senate remains uncertain.

The plan, known as a novelle, would replace taxation of unrealised gains — increases in asset value that have not been realised through a sale — with a tax on gains. The governing parties D66, VVD and CDA support it, as do JA21, ANP reports. Either SGP or BBB backing would be enough to secure a majority in the lower house.

Both SGP and BBB have expressed support for taxing gains, but parties have raised questions about how to cover the plan’s temporary loss of revenue over the longer term. They have also criticised the expected workload for the Dutch Tax Administration.

The Senate presents a separate hurdle. The seven parties named as supporting the plan have 37 seats there, short of a majority. Although 50PLUS is a strong supporter of taxing realised gains in the Senate, its representative in the House, Corrie van Brenk, has been highly critical of the bill, ANP reports.