'Laurentien and her foundation should not cycle through the benefits affair, chaos is insured'

Opinion A new method of compensating victims of the benefits affair can be expensive, according to a secret note from the Ministry of Finance. Tax specialist Bertus Wernsen thinks that the involvement of the Equal Recovery Foundation is even causing chaos, he says in this opinion article.

Bertus Wernsen 29-05-24, 09:00 Last updated: 30-05-24, 12:48

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As soon as the problems become too big for politicians, it seems to be the custom in the Netherlands to hire a foundation with a good story to solve the problems. For example, we have already had someone arrange the face masks. That cost millions.

Now, the Equal Recovery Foundation, advised by Princess Laurentien, offers to accelerate the compensation of those affected by the benefits affair. Much information about this is not yet public, but employees of the tax authorities have legitimate concerns. According to initial reports, this will cost many billions. This scattering of taxpayers' money will undoubtedly attract many fortune seekers. It would be a large-scale pilot.

Chaos

Is there still a view of the settlement? One-off amounts of 30,000 euros have already been paid, even to people with smaller debts. Will they now have the opportunity to increase this a bit more? If you change the rules of the game during the process, you create chaos.

For the tax authorities, this is disastrous.

There, they are bound by the tax rules and the general principles of good administration. If something goes wrong, it must be solved with the existing rules. If other political rules or a hired foundation cycle through that, chaos is assured. You can bet that advisors are ready to do the best they can for their clients. In addition, they have the choice to rely on the general rules of the tax authorities or on the generous allowances from politics and the Laurentien Foundation.

If someone with a debt of 3,000 euros is compensated with 30,000 euros, another person can claim 60,000 euros for a debt of 6,000 euros

Bertus Wernsen

Of course, a mix of those rules is also possible. For example: There is a principle of equality: equal cases must be treated equally. The tax authorities have to comply with this. If someone with a debt of 3,000 euros is compensated with 30,000 euros by politicians, someone else can claim 60,000 euros for a debt of 6,000 euros, invoking the principle of equality. In any case, it is necessary to decouple the actual debt and the compensation for damage suffered in order to keep things somewhat clean. No one can determine the debt better than the tax authorities.

divorce

Compensation for damage suffered is specialist work and this should also be as clear as possible. I can therefore hope that the foundation will limit itself to compensation and that the tax authorities will continue to settle the real tax part. From the first messages, I conclude that standard amounts are set for, for example, a divorce as a result of the benefits affair. This can be a great opportunity to get financial benefits from your divorce.

But there is still a lot of things imaginable like that.

The assessment takes place in one conversation based on trust. After that, the compensation is calculated. So the story is not being checked. The causal relationship between a divorce and the benefits affair is therefore not being tested. If the first estimates reach 5 billion, you can indeed count on a multiple of them.

Nobel striving

Working on the basis of trust is a noble goal. Unfortunately, the practice is more unruly. The cry “if the toilet teacher is gone, the dish stays empty” does not come out of the blue. The foundation's approach would be a pilot, but if the pilot is stopped, the damage will already be done. Stakeholders can then rely on the applied rules. There he is again, that principle of equality.

In addition, we know the principle of trust. Citizens must be able to trust that a government will stick to its policy. If that policy changes all the time, you will of course rely on the policy that is most favorable to you. The sad thing is that the real victims always suffer from those who abuse regulations. For now, I get the impression that Laurentien and her foundation are allowed to play for Sinterklaas and that Finance has created something that makes the face mask affair pale. I wonder what measures will close this huge leak.

Bertus Wernsen from Deventer is a former tax specialist at the tax authorities.