The amendment against an increase in the student loan interest rate is not successful
Despite all the efforts of opponents, the interest rate hike on student loans is not table. An amendment to destroy the measure did not win a majority in the House of Representatives this afternoon.
Picture: House of Representatives
Member of Parliament Nijboer of the PvdA and his colleague Stoffer of the SGP proposed to adjust the so-called expat subsidy instead of increasing the interest on student loans. As far as they are concerned, this tax benefit for employees from abroad could be scrapped from 2020 for incomes above 178 thousand euros per year.
dept
The Interurban Student Consultation ISO applauded this: “Today the cabinet can choose between a salary discount for wealthy expats and putting students even deeper into debt,” said chairman Tom van den Brink.
The House opted for the second and rejected the amendment. The four government parties and the PVV voted against. Especially the 'no' of the CDA is striking. During the party congress at the beginning of the month, the members turned against the interest rate hike. They supported a motion by the party's youth department that stated that the CDA should oppose the measure.
Difficult
Party leader Sybrand Buma and Member of Parliament Harry van der Molen immediately announced this would be difficult; After all, the measure is in the coalition agreement and the CDA youth had no cover for their motion.
The fact that today's amendment was covered did not change the mind of the CDA group. “Anyone can come up with a cover,” says Van der Molen, “but it must be acceptable. A new agreement was recently made about the expat scheme when the dividend tax was discontinued, we cannot just go back to that.
The race is not yet over. The bill will be discussed in detail at the end of this month.
