The Northern Times
  • News
  • Lifestyle
  • Culture
  • People
  • What’s happening
  • Economy
  • Opportunities
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Lifestyle
  • Culture
  • People
  • What’s happening
  • Economy
  • Opportunities
No Result
View All Result
The Northern Times
No Result
View All Result

The “Toeslagen Affair:” why did the Dutch government resign last week?

January 20, 2021
in Uncategorized
Home

Mark Rutte’s Third Cabinet called out for ‘administrative incapacity’ due to its role in an intense pursuit of parents wrongly thought to be committing childcare allowance fraud

By Adriana Dancu

A report conducted by the parliamentary interrogation committee on childcare allowance revealed that an estimated of 26,000 parents across the Netherlands were the victims of false suspicions of fraud regarding the childcare allowance and/or were the victims of a tough approach to fraud by the Tax Authorities from 2013 to at least 2019. The report led the Dutch government led by Mark Rutte to step down for its role in the campaign.

How did this happen?

In 2013, Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s second Cabinet founded an anti-fraud committee for childcare allowance affairs. The “all or nothing approach” of the committee was backed by then State Secretary Frans Weekers (VVD), and Lodewijk Asscher (PvdA) who approved the more intensive fight against fraud as Minister of Social Affairs in the coalition government.

The anti-fraud committee’s aim was to tackle fraud within the benefit system, but it turned out that its rules were applied far too harshly. Following its “all or nothing approach”; as soon as recipients of the childcare allowance benefit made a minor mistake (such as not paying back a personal contribution in full) they had to pay back all benefits they received. If parents paid 10 euros less than the personal contribution amount, for instance, they would receive a fine of 10,000 euros.

This campaign continued for years, as the Tax and Customs Administration has wrongly classified thousands of parents that received childcare allowance as fraudsters, and considered every minor mistake as intentional. Moreover, as NU.nl reports,  the tax authorities made use of far-reaching recovery options, such as seizure of cars or forced sales of homes.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate, Eric Wiebes, was allegedly aware of these abuses committed by the committee from August 2017, however, it took two years before the State Secretary Menno Snel (who resigned in 2019) realised the scale of the harassment campaign and impact of the fraud hunt.

The report conducted by the interrogation committee argued that the fraud hunt “grossly infringed the rule of law,” and was an “unprecedented injustice.” Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, however, argued that “too few alarm bells were raised at all levels” to catch the attention of officials, reports NOS.

The fallout led to widescale condemnation of the Rutte Cabinet, and the resignation of Asscher from the PvdA leadership.

As a result, Mark Rutte met with King Willem-Alexander last Friday to offer the resignation of his Cabinet.

What are the political implications?

The CDA, ChristenUnie, D66 and VVD coalition that formed Mark Rutte’s third cabinet had promised three and a half years ago to make the Netherlands better “emphatically also for people who now feel that the government is no longer there for them.” Now, the Cabinet has had to step down (less than two months before the elections, however it will continue in a caretaker role) because of exactly that; untrustworthiness.

NOS reported that Prime Minister Rutte assumed responsibility for the injustice committed by its own Cabinet. He acknowledged that the fraud hunt “went horribly wrong,” and that even though the interrogation committee’s report is harsh, it is accurate nonetheless. Additionally, Mark Rutte said the Cabinet agrees that “if the entire political system has failed, only joint responsibility can be borne.” Thus, this has led to the resignation of the entire Cabinet.

The resignation of the Cabinet will not hinder the fight against the pandemic, however, said Rutte. The Cabinet will keep its role as caretaker in the Coronavirus crisis in the upcoming months, reports NRC.

Who were the most affected by this?

Npo radio 1 reported that journalists Pieter Klein of RTL, and Jan Klein Nijenhuis of Trouw had noted that the Tax and Customs Administration targeted especially minorities, and people who have two nationalities. “This is just state racism,” said investigative journalist Thomas Muntz.

“By now I get the idea that the Tax Authorities still don’t understand how tough this topic is. If you use people’s second nationality to pump them into a system aimed at finding fraudsters, then this is a form of racism practiced by the state,” said Muntz.

It seems like the practice of the Tax Authorities was not only disproportional with the “crime” committed, but also biased.

Even though the Dutch government resigned, and has approved up to 30,000 euros in compensations to each victim, it still might not be enough. With the elections of a new government approaching, actual solutions need to be created in order to prevent this abuse from happening again.

Tags: childcare allowanceDutch government stepping downillegal fraud huntMark Ruttetax authorities

Related Posts

The Northern football clubs’ monthly round-up: August
Sports

The Northern football clubs’ monthly round-up: August

August 28, 2023
FC Groningen: A Fallen Giant Lifted by Its Supporters
Sports

FC Groningen: A Fallen Giant Lifted by Its Supporters

August 16, 2023
Dutch women’s football team roars into the World Cup
Sports

Dutch women’s football team roars into the World Cup

July 19, 2023

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Popular News

  • Father and six children from Ruinerwold lived in basement for years waiting for the end of time

    Father and six children from Ruinerwold lived in basement for years waiting for the end of time

    2872 shares
    Share 1148 Tweet 718
  • Scottish company working on ferry service between Edinburgh and Eemshaven

    1827 shares
    Share 731 Tweet 457
  • German students score rap hit with “Bonnetje Mee”

    1730 shares
    Share 692 Tweet 433
  • Two COVID-19 Coronavirus cases confirmed in Province of Groningen

    1491 shares
    Share 596 Tweet 373
  • Olympic champion Epke Zonderland now a doctor

    1374 shares
    Share 550 Tweet 344
The Northerntimes is powered by: TopDutch

No Result
View All Result
  • Arts
  • Contributors
  • Covid-19 News
  • Covid Chronicles
  • authority
  • personal
  • photo reportage
  • professional
  • Crime
  • Culture
  • Drenthe
  • Dutch history
  • Econ 050
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Eurosonic Noorderslag
  • Friesland
  • Groningen
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Make it in the North
  • National
  • News
  • Nightlife
  • Opinion
  • Opportunities
  • Education
  • People
  • Expats
  • International students
  • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Sports
  • submitted articles
  • Top Dutch Business
  • Travel
  • Typical Dutch
  • Ukraine
  • Uncategorized
  • What’s happening
  • World

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Submit a article

Send in an article to be published on The Northern Times.

Send a news tip

Got a story idea or want us to be aware of anything?