Tweede Kamer passes 2027 Tax Plan 76–74 without the VVD

The Tweede Kamer passed the 2027 Tax Plan on Thursday 12 November by 76 votes to 74, after the VVD voted against its own cabinet's bill over a new 38.5% top rate on investment income.

VVD group leader Ruben Brekelmans had told MPs earlier in the day that his party would vote against the bill if the amendment by Jesse Klaver (PRO) and Laurens Dassen (Volt) passed. It passed, with the votes of the VVD's coalition partners D66 and CDA.

Seventy-six, with none to spare

All 150 members voted in the roll call, which Mona Keijzer (Lid Keijzer) requested, and no group split.

• For: D66 (26), PRO (20), CDA (18), ChristenUnie, PvdD and DENK (3 each), 50PLUS (2) and Volt (1).
• Against: VVD (22), PVV (19), JA21 (9), FVD and Groep Markuszower (7 each), BBB, SP and SGP (3 each) and Keijzer.

The bill needed 76. Christine Teunissen (PvdD) said her party backed it "met de hakken over de sloot" (by the skin of its teeth).

About ninety minutes earlier the chamber rejected a no-confidence motion by Elmar Vlottes and Geert Wilders (PVV) by 34 votes to 116, also by roll call. The VVD voted against it.

What the wealth amendment does

Amendment 80 replaced the one Klaver and Dassen tabled on 4 November. Groups holding 79 seats backed it on a show of hands: PRO, D66, CDA, SP, ChristenUnie, PvdD, DENK, 50PLUS and Volt. The cabinet had advised against it.

• Workers: the first-bracket income-tax rate falls by 0.25 points, worth €879 million a year.
• Investors and savers: box 3 gets two rates, 35.5% on returns up to €60,000 a year and 38.5% above that. The single rate is 36%.
• Families using "paper gifts": repayment of a debt acknowledged as a gift counts as a taxable gift or inheritance. Gifts recorded in a notarial deed and made before 1 January 2027 stay outside the rule, as do deeds signed before 17:15 on 11 November 2026 whatever their date of effect.
• Shareholders and heirs: the bracket thresholds in box 2 and in inheritance and gift tax are frozen from 2027 to 2031.
• The Finance Ministry: €404 million a year from 2028 must still be found from taxes on wealth; the authors ask for an exit tax on very wealthy individuals.
• The amendment also strikes the power to limit the 2028 inflation correction by decree, a step worth €1.9 billion a year.

The original's 45% top rate in box 3 and 33% top rate in box 2 are gone. "We zijn van 45% naar 38,5% gegaan" (we went from 45% to 38.5%), CDA leader Henri Bontenbal told the chamber.

Brekelmans called the result "heel slecht voor ondernemers, investeringen in Nederland en de economische groei" (very bad for entrepreneurs, investment in the Netherlands and economic growth).

What else moved

• Amendment 42, by Pieter Grinwis (ChristenUnie) and Corrie van Brenk (50PLUS), passed with VVD support: the first two bracket rates fall by 0.14 points, a €100 cut to the older persons' tax credit is reversed, and the labour tax credit rises by €17 instead of €133.
• Their amendment 78 lowers the same two rates by 0.03 points from 2028 and halves the notional interest rate used to value paper gifts, from 6% to 3%, from 1 January 2028.
• Teunissen's amendment 47 adds €100 to the air tax on private jets from 2030.
• MPs rejected full inflation indexation for 2027, tabled by Gidi Markuszower (Groep Markuszower), and the reversal of the care-costs deduction changes, tabled by Jimmy Dijk (SP).

The other four bills in the package passed on a show of hands. The VVD voted for the bill extending the capital-gains levy in box 3 (37053).

The Senate is three votes short

The bill now goes to the Eerste Kamer, which can adopt or reject it but cannot amend it. The parties that voted for it hold 35 of 75 seats there: PRO 14, D66 7, CDA 6, ChristenUnie 3, PvdD 2, Volt 2 and 50PLUS 1. DENK has no senators. With every senator voting, the bill needs 38.

The VVD has nine senators and BBB eleven. The Senate has published no date for its debate.

Prime Minister Rob Jetten (D66) told MPs that "dit kabinet zich heel serieus zal moeten herbezinnen op hoe de samenwerking beter kan" (this cabinet will have to reflect very seriously on how cooperation can improve).

What to watch

• Before 1 January 2027: the Senate vote. The bill is written to take effect on that date.
• By Prinsjesdag in September 2027: a bill for a full capital-gains tax in box 3, in force by 1 January 2030 at the latest, which MPs requested in a motion by Michiel Hoogeveen (JA21).
• 1 January 2028: the new valuation rules for paper gifts apply and the €404 million target starts to count.

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