Even without a scandal, the benefits scandal is no longer possible.

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COMMENT SURCHARGES
Even without a scandal, things can't go on like this
more with the allowance system
Raoul du Pré October 27, 2025
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A government cannot afford that
hundreds of thousands of people in financial insecurity
are due to a government regulation.
I
In the uproar of the election campaign, it is looming.
message is snowing under the snow, but that is unjustified: the
NOS reported that the tax authorities 658 in the past year
had to ask for money back a thousand times from people who wear too much
had received surcharges. This often involves considerable
amounts.
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It is a growing problem because more and more people
make use of an additional fee. In ten years, it doubled
annual amount that is paid out to 21 billion euros. The
corona time has worsened the problem. The government set up the
recoveries of one million surcharges that were too high, then temporary
on pause to prevent people from being economically insecure
times would be even deeper into trouble. As a result,
debts remain.
In the Volkskrant Commentary, the newspaper's position is
worded. It comes about after a discussion between the commentators
and the chief editor.
For the record: this is not a benefits scandal like the few
was uncovered years ago, with thousands of people who
were unfairly addressed by the tax authorities. But it
the problem that occurs here is hardly less now
seriously: a government simply cannot afford that
hundreds of thousands of people are in financial insecurity
due to a government regulation.
What a modern and customer-friendly way two decades ago
model leek - a model for every self-reliant citizen
highly personal allowance, to be requested yourself - is for too much
people have become an impregnable bastion. The hankering for
customization has proven to be unsuitable for social security. With the
child benefit and the old-age benefit (AOW) are never big
implementation problems arise because the regulations
be clear, uniform and understandable. In addition to the surcharges, the
risk of errors is too high. And because it's still for many people
once involves significant parts of the household budget, such a
errors can quickly have rather disastrous consequences.
The government is unpredictable here and that is exactly what a
government should not be. People with the best intentions
have tried to find their way around complicated arrangements,
feel like they're being viewed as fraudsters. There is often a lack of explanation
about what went wrong. The tax authorities themselves have been like this for years.
overloaded by all the math, recalculating and pumping around
of all billions, that any proposed change to the
tax system receives the predicate “impracticable”.
That's how we ended up in a vicious cycle. But that's where politics goes
of course, don't accept it. The good news: the
election programs are promising, with quite a few
potential government parties that advocate for a
tax reform that makes surcharges obsolete. The
side note is that this was also the case two years ago and that
at the time, in the formation, in the end, very little of it is justified
arrived.
That is the place where it should happen. Everyone understands that a
tax reform is complex and therefore not arranged quickly
becomes, but setting up a state commission that within a
year putting a blueprint on the table is the least thing in the
upcoming formation should be arranged. Also the new
cabinet has every interest in not being chased by
reports about well-meaning citizens who get stuck in this by the
government-created swamp.