NationStates | Forest Board

Edited

Meanwhile on my "tiny" part of the globe:

Dutch broadcaster NOS reported Friday that Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government is stepping down after it emerged that officials had wrongly pursued thousands of people over welfare fraud.

Rutte called a Cabinet meeting in The Hague where ministers had to make up their minds on quitting just two months before a planned general election.

What is the scandal about?
The Dutch tax office had accused thousands of families of fraudulently claiming child welfare payments between 2013 and 2019. It demanded repayments of tens of thousands of euros, driving many families into financial ruin and, in some cases, divorce.

A parliamentary report called it an "unprecedented injustice" to claw back tens of thousands of euros without giving the accused a chance to prove their innocence.

Rutte, who has been prime minister since 2010, described the episode as "shameful."

What have the political consequences been so far?
Green leader Jesse Klaver took to Twitter on Friday to welcome the resignation as the "right decision" for the Netherlands.

"Let this be a new beginning. A turning point," he wrote, saying this could be "the moment when we rebuild our welfare state."

EDIT: This is what happens when people become "files", "cases" and "numbers" and the people in power and the ones overlooking "the system" ignore several signals that things are not functioning properly.

Effazio, Frieden-und Freudenland, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, and 9 othersLove and Nature, Lord Dominator, Uan aa Boa, Canaltia, Terrabod, Cat-herders united, Middle Barael, Adaline, and Garbelia

The Federated Bailiwicks of Verdant Haven

3 years 116 days ago

Edited

Oof, sorry to hear of that going on, Ownzone. At least they have the dignity to step down from office when they get caught doing something horrible, but obviously it should never come to that. How high up the government chain did the issue go? Was it actually a cabinet-level minister, or ministers, who were driving the pursuit of these families?

The indignity people express at the possibility of a poor family getting something extra, while they pay no attention to fantastically wealthy individuals skipping out on millions in taxes, never ceases to amaze me. Like... I do fundamentally believe in many aspects of aspects of capitalist society, including the ability of people to become wealthy, but that only works when everybody is playing by the same rules and is given a decent chance at having a good starting point. Going after a hundred poor families, even if every case were real, will never do as much for the coffers as pursuing a single high-wealth individual engaged in the same tactic. They want to stop fraud? Set the example at the top so people don't think that's what they have to emulate to achieve success.

Frieden-und Freudenland, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, and 6 othersUan aa Boa, Canaltia, Terrabod, Middle Barael, Garbelia, and The most serene republicans

The Easter VrijStaat of Ownzone

3 years 116 days ago

Edited

Verdant Haven wrote:

Oof, sorry to hear of that going on,

Ownzone. At least they have the dignity to step down from office when they get caught doing something horrible, but obviously it should never come to that. How high up the government chain did the issue go? Was it actually a cabinet-level minister, or ministers, who were driving the pursuit of these families?

The indignity people express at the possibility of a poor family getting something extra, while they pay no attention to fantastically wealthy individuals skipping out on millions in taxes, never ceases to amaze me. Like... I do fundamentally believe in many aspects of aspects of capitalist society, including the ability of people to become wealthy, but that only works when everybody is playing by the same rules and is given a decent chance at having a good starting point. Going after a hundred poor families, even if every case were real, will never do as much for the coffers as pursuing a single high-wealth individual engaged in the same tactic. They want to stop fraud? Set the example at the top so people don't think that's what they have to emulate to achieve success.

The problem is a bit more complicated than this. First the "fraud" was in general not committed by the families but by childminder agencies. However since it was legally almost impossible to convict those and most of those were closed down anyway the tax office directed by the government decided to go after the families. Second after the "Bulgarian Fraud" (A large number of Bulgarians wilfully moved to The Netherlands claimed and received a number of allowances and moved back to Bulgaria before our tax office could figure out they weren't entitled to the received allowances) the tax office was encouraged by both our legal system and the government to use a zero tolerance-policy when it came to potential fraud. Any mistake in a signed document was considered to be deliberate and labelled the person responsible as "fraudulent" which resulted in a) the received allowance had to be paid back in its entirety including hefty fines and b) makes it harder if not impossible to make use of certain financial services like getting a loan or a mortgage. Pushing these people deeper and deeper into financial troubles.

Employees of the tax office and several members of the Dutch parliament asked the Cabinet on multiple occasions to look into the problems and to come up with a hardship clause (which strangely enough wasn't part of the initial law to begin with). The concerns were dismissed and parliament was assured that the law and implementation of it was working "as intended"

Meanwhile Dutch and foreign investors and banks cut deals with our tax office on the regular when they are found guilty of actual fraud. But no deals were possible for the "people in the street".

EDIT: Stepping down is merely symbolic as the Cabinet (excluding the person responsible for the tax office) will remain in function in a demissionary capacity. Nonetheless the fact that the conclusion was reached that the government as a whole (that includes the legislative, judicial and executive branches) failed to protect these citizens and the fact that it has consequences is kind of sad but also reassuring at the same time. Seeing that many states move closer and closer to becoming totalitarian states I am glad to see the checks and balances over here are still working (albeit shamefully late!!!)

Verdant Haven, Frieden-und Freudenland, Ruinenlust, Love and Nature, and 6 othersLord Dominator, Uan aa Boa, Canaltia, Cat-herders united, Middle Barael, and The most serene republicans

The most serene republicans

3 years 116 days ago

Gaaah I love my cat so much!
This is completely unrelated to anything but I just want to make a my-cat-appreciation-post. How many people can say they have a cat who has a music taste? She literally complains when I put eletronic music on until I turn it off but comes closer when I play jazz or anything with an acoustic guitar. Freaking love that elderly chonky kitty to death.

Effazio, Frieden-und Freudenland, Lord Dominator, Canaltia, and 5 othersTerrabod, Cat-herders united, McClandia Doge 2, Middle Barael, and Garbelia

Nova patris

3 years 116 days ago

Ownzone wrote: