The Flemish liberal party Open VLD warned Belgium’s Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) that they would reject the tax reform if it were to include any tax cuts for the unemployed.
The country's Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne drew the red line on his party's behalf, stating that "if anyone insists on cutting taxes for those on a living allowance and the unemployed, then there will be no tax reform for us."
He told VTM Nieuws on Sunday that cutting these taxes would not help "further widen" the gap between those working in Belgium and those who do not which is "highly problematic." The party's leader Lachaert meanwhile told RTL Info on Monday that "it is in [the party’s] interest to reach an agreement on tax reform before the summer."
In response, Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) told VRT’s radio show De Ochtend that these cuts would only occur in "exceptional cases", which he blamed on the "current complexity" of the Belgian tax system. "But that has nothing to do with the objective of our tax reform", he clarified.
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These tensions also reflect growing tensions between the Federal Government’s left and right-wing parties, which are currently disputing how to tackle Belgium’s European-high tax burden on its workers' wages.
For the government’s liberal forces (MR and Open VLD) and even the Flemish centre-left party Vooruit, the situation can be remedied by stricter measures being placed on the country’s unemployed. Their proposals have, unsurprisingly, been criticised by the French-speaking socialist party PS.
The ongoing dispute has resulted in Van Peteghem being left isolated as he plans to table his tax reform in the coming weeks.
