Government breaks with the past, even regarding budgetary control

The federal government concluded its budgetary control successfully: not only does it finally get Belgium’s budget back on track, it does so without levying new taxes that would impact the ordinary citizen. “This government is stepping up the fight against fraud and taking extra measures to stimulate the economy and create new jobs,” says Minister of Finance Johan Van Overtveldt (N-VA).

With this budgetary control, the government respects the coalition agreement. This envisions a budgetary equilibrium in 2018. “With an effort of 0.65 percent of the GDP The gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country, both by companies and the government. This term is usually used as a benchmark for a country’s prosperity. This is why the N-VA closely follows the evolution of the Belgian GDP. GDP , we are actually going faster than what the experts of the High Council of Finance recommended in the build-up to this round of budgetary control,” Van Overtveldt declares. “In addition, the government retains a number of buffers. All of this means that we are at the head of the European class.”

No new family taxes
Contrary to what was customary with previous budgetary controls, there will be no new taxes for ordinary citizens and families. This government will however levy additional taxes on tax structures in tax havens. They also want to create more resources by stamping out all kinds of social and tax fraud and through taxes for the diamond sector.