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The Dutch Tax Scandal
WHISTLEBLOWER PIERRE NIESSEN allowance affair
By Harm Ede Botje
Apr 14, 2021 at 4:59 AM Update: 2 years ago
For years, former civil servant Pierre Niessen unsuccessfully drew attention to abuses in dealing with appeals in the benefits affair. Last week, he received an apology from outgoing Secretary of State Alexandra van Huffelen for Finance. According to Niessen, the government faces an enormous task, not just with the tax authorities. “If you start doing research at other departments, you run into the same problems. It is therefore necessary for the entire government to change culture.”
According to the now retired official, a lot needs to change at the tax authorities. “It's really fun on paper to advocate for a cultural change, but how will that work in practice?” , Niessen (68) wonders in conversation with NU.nl.
Last month, Niessen spoke to Van Huffelen, a meeting he describes as “very pleasant”. He has “every confidence” in her performance. Niessen: “I'm happy with the apology, it feels like recognition after thirteen years of fighting.” In turn, the Secretary of State thanked Niessen for his' persistence ', she wrote in a letter to the House last week.
In the coming period, Niessen will play a role in achieving what he believes is so necessary cultural change at the tax authorities, it has been agreed. What role he will have is still unclear. “I'm looking forward to it,” he says from Turkey, where he's been living part of the year since retirement. “I do it for the citizens and the benevolent employees of the tax authorities, of whom there are a lot of them.”
Niessen sounded the alarm about surcharges early on
The whistleblower worked for years at the Tax Authorities, from 2009 to 2016 in the Tax Administration/Surcharges Collection Department. He warned his superiors about abuses several times, but nothing was done about it. As early as 2010, he wrote a letter to the President of the House of Representatives, which was not picked up.
In 2019, he climbed back in the pen, after allegiance and RTL brought out stories about the abuses surrounding the surcharges. “For me, the measure is full,” he said at the time. “I have to go outside, I have that obligation. Against the people who have been wronged and against my conscience.”
A KPMG investigation made public last week now shows that Niessen was “completely right” in five of the six reports of abuses. This included non-compliance with laws and regulations when dealing with parents' objections to, for example, a reduction or recovery of their childcare allowance.
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