Higher asset limit for Utrecht municipal tax remission rejected
The municipality of Utrecht is appealing to the Council of State following the decision by Dutch Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Hugo de Jonge to cancel an initiative that would increase the asset limit for tax remission. Utrecht Nieuws NL reports that through the initiative, the municipality of Utrecht wants to assist low-income citizens.
Under the proposal, GroenLinks and the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) aim to improve socioeconomic security for financially vulnerable citizens. The tax remission would help this section of society to build up a financial buffer, enabling them to cope with financial setbacks better. In the current situation, this group of citizens can set very little money aside, and the small amount of money they do manage to save is spent on municipal taxes.
The proposal involved a certain amount of risk for the municipality of Utrecht. After all, the municipality itself does not dictate the municipal tax measures, reports Utrecht Nieuws NL. Despite this, the Council of State believes that the Ministry's decision is disproportionate. This opinion is shared by Geerten Boogaard, Professor of Local Government at Leiden University.
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Read the full article in Utrecht.nieuws.nl (NL article)
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