Abandoned by Unilever, Dutch PM to rethink tax plan
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his government would reconsider plans to scrap its dividend tax in a major political climbdown only hours after Unilever dropped plans to move its headquarters to the Netherlands.
Rutte, who had argued that getting rid of the 15 percent withholding tax on dividends was vital for the country’s business climate, said his government must reconsider its entire package of tax reforms.
“We didn’t decide to scrap the dividend tax for just one company, but the fact that such a large company that had decided to come to the Netherlands has withdrawn its plan is very relevant,” he told reporters in The Hague.
“That’s why we will reconsider our proposed measures,” added Rutte.
Rutte’s coalition holds a single-vote majority in both parliament and the senate. Despite some equivocation, no lawmaker has broken ranks over the issue.
Rutte, who leads the liberal VVD party, is heading his third government since coming to power in 2010.
Unilever, which along with fellow AngloDutch company Royal Dutch Shell has long lobbied against the tax, said earlier Friday it had suspended plans to consolidate a single headquarters in Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port.
The company said it was bowing to pressure from shareholders at its British arm, who were worried about leaving the FTSE index, weaker Dutch rules on shareholder rights, and about the future tax treatment of Dutch dividends.
Rutte, who worked for Unilever from 19922002 before entering politics, had defended getting rid of the tax multiple times in front of a sceptical parliament.
He survived a no-confidence vote in April after lobbying memos of which he said he had no memory emerged. (RTRS)