Child allowance for low incomes – Updated

Update:

The integral text of the proposed law is available in Dutch. Click here to download.

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If the Dutch Parliament gives consent, parents with children under eighteen years of age on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba can benefit from child allowance as of next year. From this, especially low-income families will benefit. “This is how I want to contribute to the fight against poverty in the Caribbean Netherlands”, says State Secretary of Social Affairs and Labour, Jetta Klijnsma, who is sending the bill today to the Second Chamber for consideration.

Presently, parents on the three islands can still receive a tax compensation for children. People with low incomes benefit little from this. They pay little or no tax and can therefore also receive hardly any discount on that tax.

To prevent this redemption problem, the child allowance replaces this fiscal regulation as of January. As a result the parents of all 5000 children in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will benefit from child allowance. Presently parents of 2000 children benefit from the children’s discount.

The point of departure is that no one should fall behind. The child allowance will be just as high as the deduction is now in the most favorable case. That amount is 38 USD per child per month. The current children’s discount is valid per family for up to 2 children; the new child allowance is intended for all children.

The monthly amount can still be adjusted. If it turns out that the tax and premium tax changes in a way that parents compared to the old system still fall behind, then the monthly amount will increase. The amount will also be indexed in the future.

The Second and First Chamber must still vote on the draft bill. The intended effective date of the new measure is January 1st, 2016.

Press release RCN