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At the end of the year, Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) will present a concept of tax reform. The opening debate in the House again showed that he is stepping into a minefield.
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“The framework of the reform must be clear. If it becomes a bit of everything, the result threatens to be even more complex than it already is.’ Green MP Dieter Van Besien summarized the opening debate about the broad fiscal reform in the Parliamentary Finance Committee well.
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The essence
- Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) must present a blueprint for a major tax reform by the end of the legislature.
- Through a green tax shift, which focuses on consumption, pollution and capital, the De Croo government wants to reduce the taxes on labour.
- Opposite the ambition to weed in deductions, exception regimes and fringe benefits is an army of lobby groups.
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There is global unanimity in the hemisphere about the great principles – simplicity, neutrality, justice, less nonsense, greening and less taxes on labor – that Van Peteghem put on the table, but the reality is that an army of lobby groups is ready to sound the alarm. withdraw as soon as one privilege threatens to be disrupted. ‘Everyone is in favor of demolishing the koterijen, but all parties are sick in that bed,’ said Joy Donné of the N-VA honestly. Marie-Christine Marghem of the MR even put a red line on the table. ‘It cannot be that the gain for one group of the population results in the loss of another. A transfer from self-employed to employees or vice versa is a red line for us,” said the former minister.
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Groen requests an extension of the securities tax to registered shares, the PS a progressive capital tax.
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Van Peteghem realizes what he is getting into. ‘Rare, but not reckless’, is what he calls the way of working he wants to follow. “This reform will not happen overnight, you have to give people time to prepare.” The CD&V member is also well supervised. Tax law professor Mark Delanote is coordinating the work with a team of tax experts and economists. Wednesday’s parliamentary debate was the start of a broad dialogue in which the social partners and environmental, poverty and family organizations can also have their say. ‘After that dialogue, I want to return to parliament by the end of the year with a conceptual framework,’ said Van Peteghem.
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Open VLD surprised
The big question is whether concrete steps have already been taken during this legislature. The coalition agreement only prescribes that the Minister of Finance must come up with a blueprint by the end of the term of office, which the next government can use. He has been shouting from the rooftops for months that Van Peteghem is more ambitious.
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But it is well known that the liberals have no desire at all to embark on major fiscal adventures before the 2024 elections. In that sense, the intervention of Open VLD MP Christian Leysen surprised on Wednesday. ‘We think it is appropriate not to wait until the end of the legislature and therefore to come up with a blueprint next year.’ That statement surprised many, also at the top of Open VLD.
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The Greens and the Socialists in particular are aiming very high. The recent compromise around the greening of company cars, which maintains the favor system for employees, clearly had to be washed away. Joris Vandenbroucke of Vooruit expects bills to be voted on during this legislature. And Dieter Van Besien put on the table a wish list that sticks to the ribs: an extension of the securities tax to registered shares, a capital yield tax and the phasing out of salary cars. The PS prefers a globalization of income and thus a progressive capital tax. CD&V continues to believe in a ‘dual income tax’.
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The opposition parties wondered whether the majority will also listen to their proposals. The N-VA prefers a tax cut. Vlaams Belang argues for a personal income tax with only two rates.
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