In dr. Kelder & Co, a Dutch news programme on NPO Radio 1, Bas Jacobs, Professor of Public Finance and Economic Policy at Erasmus School of Economics, gives his opinion on the Dutch government’s surprise decision to abolish the country’s dividend withholding tax.
The abolition was fuelled by concerns that Anglo-Dutch corporations, like Shell and Unilever, would leave the Netherlands in favour of the UK. According to Jacobs there is no economic explanation to scrap this tax on dividends. ‘We have a Prime Minister here, who seems to be pushing through an unsubstantiated measure.’