29 August 2008

THE HAGUE -- As part of a plan to help finance state pensions, Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos will announce measures geared to stimulate employees to stay on working as long as possible.

Employees who stay on at work after they are 62 are to receive a financial bonus which could be as much as EUR 3,500 a year. But workers who will turn 65 in 2011 or later will have to pay more tax on their earnings-related accumulated pension. The cabinet will present the proposals on Prinsjesdag (Budget Day), which traditionally falls on the third Tuesday of September.

Over recent weeks, it has been widely reported that people on low incomes would be worse off in 2009. Bos says the problem has now been solved, but cautioned that he was not in a position to give individual guarantees.

He did say, however, that average-income families would be taken care of, and that funds for the necessary measures would be found in a responsible way.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]