Wednesday 24 March 2010
Lien :http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... n_cent.php
A narrow majority of home owners back reform of the tax breaks on mortgage payments, likely to be one of the main issues in the June election campaign, according to a poll of 15,000 people for tv show EenVandaag.
At the moment, home owners in the Netherlands can deduct the interest paid on their mortgages entirely from tax over a 30-year period. Mortgage tax relief on second homes was scrapped several years ago.
The tv poll showed 71% of Christian Democrat voters and 59% of Liberal party voters say the tax break needs reform. One fifth of those polled thought the tax break should be done away with altogether.
The home owners lobby group VEH, however, is worried that the perk is again in the political spotlight, Trouw reports on Wednesday.
The organisation says the timing is 'the worst possible', because the housing market is weak and changes in mortgage law will sow more doubt.
Mortgage holders do have to pay another tax, the huurwaardeforfait, which is based on the value of their homes and is supposed to offset the advantage they have as home owners over tenants.
Leave mortgage tax relief alone: central bank
Thursday 25 March 2010
source :http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... f_alon.php
La mesure s'invite dans les programmes electoraux (de ceux qui veulent la faire disparaitre).Politicians should leave the current mortgage interest tax break system intact because of the difficult position facing the housing market, central bank board member Lex Hoogduin said on Thursday.
Ten years ago, the central bank called for the tax break to be phased out.
Hoogduin made the comments during the presentation of the bank's annual report. The tax break, one of the most generous in Europe, costs the treasury some €11bn a year.
Election issue
'If you ask me if this is the right moment to attack this tax break, then my answer is a resounding no,' Hoogduin is quoted as saying in the Financieele Dagblad.
And if politicians are determined to press ahead with reform, they should wait until the housing market is healthier and take a long transition period, he said.
The left-wing greens GroenLinks and the Liberal democrats D66 have already included phasing out mortgage tax relief in their election manifestos.