On Saturday, Prime Minister Charles Michel said the agreement on a share accounts tax “must and will be executed” according to the timescale he set out. He assured people the timescale would “be respected to the letter”. Mr Michel made this statement after Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt (N-VA) told De Tijd and L’Echo he was worried such a tax would be seen as discriminatory by the State Council.
During budget negotiations, the government decided to introduce 0.15% tax on share accounts containing more than 500,000 euros. The tax, amounting to 750 euros, will be applied to the first euro over the bracket decided. “Someone that invests 499,000 euros into a share account will pay nothing, and someone that invests a euro more will pay the full whack”, N-VA Minister Van Overtveldt explained. He says the system is abusive. “It could lead to people submitting complaints”, he added. He also said he was worried the State Council would see this tax as discriminatory.
Kristof Calvo, the head of the Groen Group in Chambers, reacted by asking what remains of the summer budget agreement now that “Van Overtveldt himself has torpedoed the share accounts tax”. He even asked the Prime Minister the same question.
Charles Michel said that political decisions were made over the summer. “The timescale for executing those decisions has already been set out and will be respected to the letter”, he stated. “All the bills will be approved by the Minister’s Council as planned. This also applies to the company tax reform”, the Prime Minister said.
(Source: Belga)
