Mother Martine (49) wins grueling battle against the tax authorities: 'Someone there discriminated against my daughter'

She had to pay back her childcare allowance for her daughter with a Turkish last name. Not for her daughter with a Dutch last name. Martine van Bruggen-Pander (49) from Kampen was right at the College for Human Rights last week: the tax authorities discriminated. “It made me cry very intensely, it came from a very deep end.”

Phaedra Werkhoven 17-06-24, 11:25 Last updated: 17-06-24, 12:45

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It was sometime in 2006 that the first letters arrived. Martine van Bruggen-Pander had a good job at a bank, was a single mother with two children. Both girls went to the same daycare center, she worked full-time. But suddenly she had to pay back the allowance she received for her daughter Noä Kiziltas. She objected again and again, but the tax authorities had declared her a fraud in 2009. And every time she filed her objections, they said they had not received it or lost it. Her father worked for the tax authorities; he said: “If you don't trust it, keep it all.” That's what she did. Now it appears to be her salvation.

Tough impression

Martine and Noä (21) are sitting at the outdoor table in their Kampense home. Stepfather Randolf is also present. Noä regularly strokes her mother's back. Martine, highly educated and now active in Kampen politics, makes a tough impression with her hoarish voice; you won't just blow her away.

She describes what happened to her as a “twelve-year hostage by the Tax Administration”, a Kafkaesque situation, in which she broke down so far that at one point she almost came to believe that she was indeed that fraudster. She asked repeatedly: why pay back for one daughter and not for the other? She had all the papers and invoices of both daughters. But there was no answer.

How did her daughter end up on that blacklist? That question was also not answered during the session on Wednesday.

It was about 80,000 euros that she had to pay back. She lost her job at the bank, was no longer able to take out an energy contract, no health insurance; she couldn't do anything at all. In 2013, the family fell into free fall. Everything was confiscated: her car, her home, all savings were frozen.

Then it's David versus Goliath. I thought: maybe I'm Don Quixote, I'm going crazy

Martine van Bruggen-Pander

She was looking for another job that did not require her to issue a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG), but the tax authorities also seized that salary. “We had periods of thirty euros a week. We had to think about every euro. Because my salary was too high on paper, we couldn't go to the food bank either.”

“Then it's David against Goliath. I thought: maybe I'm Don Quixote, I'm going crazy. After all these years of fighting, you think: maybe it's just the way it is. I just have to fix it.”

Relationship as a rescue

In 2011, she got into a relationship with Randolf, which turned out to be her salvation. “He kept our family above water. He was a carpenter at the time and could sometimes do black jobs.”

Daughter Noä: “It was difficult though; we always went on vacation five times a year. At one point, I had a conversation in the garden with my mother and she said: “Noä, it's not possible anymore. We are penniless. ' Money worries are never fun; I did see the stress on my parents.”

Martine: “You're standing by and you see your car drive away, which you have to sell.”

Noä: “And no more going to the dentist.”

Martine: “There's nowhere to go, nowhere.”

People also always think: it must be you, where there is smoke, there is fire. She kept quiet for a long time, there was shame. “You're getting further and further away from society, you're not participating anymore. No more going to a terrace. At some point, you won't be able to buy diapers anymore. If there was an extra euro, we would get a doner sandwich, that was a party.”

Noä: “I worked at the supermarket and asked my mother if she could borrow money from me. That was also very difficult for my mother.”

No floor

They were both too proud to apply for benefits. They both continued to work; they worked 40 hours a week at a “raw food” company. They all have to laugh. She, as a Burgundian.

They changed energy suppliers every three months, and it made them creative. The bailiffs were regularly at the door. For a long time they had no floor, they lived on concrete because they couldn't afford it. The bailiffs wanted to confiscate the television. They then hid them under a blanket in the car at night. “It's all so bizarre. Deeply sad.”

Noä: “And that we always turned away when they were at the door.”

What was her desperation? At that question, Martine breaks. “I did stand here and wondered how to proceed. You still have four euros and you still have a whole month to go. With a baby (her youngest was just born at the time), your whole humanity, your self-esteem, your identity is gone. My fight is: someone sat in an office who discriminated against my little humpie for her last name.”

Now, with this ruling by the College, she is prosecuting her lawsuit against the tax authorities. “Discrimination is punishable. The authority that has done this can go to the tallest tree. They have to start compensating for our lives. I'm going to take that step now.”

It's still a scar, Noä thinks. She is always shocked when she sees an unpaid bill. She taps her teeth. Now she finally has braces. “Because my parents can afford it now.”

Well-running shop

They are now well off. When everything finally came to light and they were declared debt-free, they started a construction and consultancy firm. Martine: “A well-running shop.” But it wasn't until last week, at the College's ruling, that so much fell off her. “I cried from the bottom of my soul.”

Trust in the government will never come back either, with no family member. In local politics, Martine works for a counter for citizens who live in poverty and don't know where to go. “I used to have the face of someone who has always been on vacation, so carefree. That will never come back.”

There are tears again. “All those degrading experiences of that time are in a box that I may not have to open the lid completely anymore.”