Kanawu Radio number 1 news portal
Almost two million Dutch people, more than one in eight adults, are in arrears with the government. These are the Tax and Customs Administration, the CJIB or DUO and three other agencies. The number of debtors is falling, but the debts that remain are higher and persistent, reports Statistics Netherlands.
To reduce the number of people in arrears even further, there is no other option than to cancel the debts in the most serious cases, says Nibud director Arjan Vliegenthart in a response to the figures. According to Nibud, the ‘hard underlay’, as he calls the serious cases, cannot be helped with ordinary debt counseling, but must be able to start with a clean slate.
These are large sums of money: the total amount that defaulters have to repay is close to 12 billion euros — about the total budget of a small ministry.
The number of people who are behind in paying a tax bill, a traffic fine or overreceived benefit or allowance is decreasing, however, by just under 10 percent between 2022 and early 2024. The amount for which these people are indebted is growing.
For example, the payment arrears per household at the Allowances Department have risen from 453 to 606 euros. The average unpaid tax debt went from 647 to 920 euros. The UWV still receives 1200 euros from an average defaulter, about 100 euros more than two years ago.
The amount that defaulters owe to DUO has actually decreased slightly, despite the loan system of recent years. The fact that the number of defaulters is relatively high in (student) cities is because households are generally poorer there.
Other figures also show that the average backlog has become more persistent in the past two years. A quarter have debts to at least two government agencies; This group has shrunk proportionally less than the total group of defaulters. There are also more debtors who have been behind for more than six months.
In line with other trends
The trend is very similar to that of other poverty figures: things are certainly not bad, but the pace at which the figures are improving has slowed down in recent years. The number of people who have not paid health insurance premiums for more than six months was higher than the year before for the first time in years, as was the number of people who have to live on less than social assistance. There are also more and more Dutch people who have difficulty paying their energy bills.
Despite these statistics, there are plenty of people who can simply catch up with a little help, says Maarten Bergman, who has been training debt counselors for more than twenty years. He points to the low number of people who receive debt assistance at all. “Municipalities do not know how to reach a large group of debtors. They are people who do not come to such a counter of their own accord because the involvement of the government scares them off.” Moreover, such a municipal counter does not provide customization, while that is necessary, says Bergman.
His solution: a counter in which the municipality is not prominently involved, so that people feel less burdened, and ensure that people are ‘picked up’ soon after they have run into financial problems. “If the financial problems are not too big yet, it is also easier to tackle them. At the same time, canceling debts is certainly a solution in a number of cases.”
Lees door onder de kaart
Directeur Arjan Vliegenthart van het Nibud ziet dat anders. Hij vindt dat er ‘uit een ander vaatje moet worden getapt’ om het aantal wanbetalers nog verder omlaag te krijgen. „We zitten in economisch goede tijden, de lonen stijgen al twee jaar op rij met meer dan 6 procent, mensen hebben daarvan geprofiteerd en hebben hun schulden afbetaald”, zegt hij. „Nu dat is gebeurd, raken we aan de harde onderlaag, die niet op die manier uit de schulden kan komen.” Volgens hem moet de overheid ermee leren leven dat niet alle schulden worden terugbetaald.
Wie denkt dat al dat geld zonder schuldsanering wél terugkomt, houdt wat de Nibud-directeur betreft zichzelf voor de gek. „Sommige mensen hebben niet genoeg inkomen om uit de schulden te komen. Schuldhulp helpt maar een paar procent van de mensen die er gebruik van maken, terwijl daar jaarlijks miljarden in worden gepompt. Dan is sanering, met een schone lei beginnen, echt de beste manier om een deel van deze groep te helpen.”
Reageren kan onderaan dit artikel. Alleen reacties voorzien van een volledige naam worden geplaatst. We doen dat omdat we een debat willen met mensen die staan voor wat ze zeggen, en daar dus ook hun naam bij zetten. Wie zijn naam nog moet invullen, kan dat doen door rechts bovenaan op onze site op ‘Login’ te klikken.