On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 17, the Dutch government announced the official budget for the coming year. Here’s everything you need to know about Prinsjesdag 2024 and what the 2025 budget means for you. 

The Netherlands’ Budget Day 2024

Every year, on the third Tuesday of September, Prinsjesdag (Prince’s Day) is hosted in The Hague. A key date on the political calendar, on the day the Dutch government announces the budget for the coming year, with King Willem-Alexander giving a speech from the throne to officially open the Dutch parliamentary season.

This year, in his first speech since Prime Minister Dick Schoof took office, the Dutch King began by expressing his pride over how well the Dutch Olympic team performed during the Paris Olympics and how the rest of the country should look to them as an example of how we can achieve anything we set our minds to “with talent, hard work and perseverance, even when things go wrong.”

The King also mentioned the main concerns that were reflected in the election results from November last year, mainly about migration and the strain on the Dutch housing market and family incomes. More concerns include those about the economy, quality and accessibility of healthcare and education, energy supply and climate, as well as about national and international security. 

The central point of the government policy is “what is possible?”, said the King. The new government is looking at how they can simplify things and cover the basics to give society “more space and certainty instead of less, so that they can shape their own future with strength and confidence.”

Dutch government announces 2025 budget

Overall, the cabinet plans to spend 457 billion euros next year. Here’s a brief overview of the key announcements made on Prinsjesdag:

Income, taxes and purchasing power

Purchasing power for households in the Netherlands will not increase by an average of 1,1 percent in 2025 as originally predicted by the Central Planning Bureau, but will instead increase by an average of 0,7 percent. 

• Changes to 30 percent tax ruling - Instead of phasing out the 30 percent ruling for highly skilled migrant workers, the tax break will be lowered to 27 percent. 
• New income tax bracket - A lower tax band for income tax will be introduced, which would involve those with less income paying less than the  37 percent rate of income tax. 
• Lower transfer tax - The high rate of transfer tax spent when purchasing a property by investors and small landlords will be cut from 10,4 percent to just 8 percent.
• Higher value-added tax (VAT) - There will be an increase in VAT from 9 percent to 21 percent on accommodation, books, concerts, museums, theatre performances and other recreational activities in the Netherlands. 
• Lower tax for companies - Taxes for companies will be cut by 1,5 billion euros a year.

Healthcare

The healthcare allowance will rise slightly to help with the increase in premiums announced by healthcare insurance providers. The deductible for health insurance will also be reduced from 385 euros to just 165 euros in 2027. 

Housing and infrastructure

With the goal of building 100.000 new homes per year, the government will make 5 billion euros available for this in coming years, with an additional 2,5 billion euros to develop new neighbourhoods. 

The Dutch government will cut 110 million euros from the budget for public transport in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam from 2026, and will instead redirect the money towards a general fund for provinces and municipalities to relieve administrative burdens.

Education

To ensure children from low-income families have lunches at schools, government subsidies for free school meals will continue. With the VAT hike for books also increasing the price of school books, the government has come up with a compensation scheme to balance this out. 

More money will also be made available to rural schools so that they can keep their doors open even if there is a decrease in the number of students. By reducing the number of foreign students and encouraging the use of Dutch in universities, the government hopes to save 293 million euros a year. There will then be increased focus on improving the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, and on research in further education. 

Crime and security

The government has committed to spending 2 percent of the GDP on defence, meeting the NATO standard. The police will receive more money from the government each year, increasing by 50 million euros in 2025, 75 million euros in 2026 and then 100 million euros per year after 2026. Money will also be set aside for a new early retirement scheme for workers in the Netherlands, including the police. 

Life in the Netherlands in 2025

In the government programme released on the Friday before Prinsjesdag, officials announced plans for a strict reduction of the number of asylum seekers in the country and its intention to declare an asylum emergency. These plans would make it more difficult for refugees to bring in new family members, among other implementations. 

Disagreements among the coalition parties over plans for asylum have broken out with the centre-right party NSC, who initially stated they would withdraw their support if the Council of State didn’t approve the plan to reduce asylum seekers. 

The main budget proposals will be debated with the parliament and Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Wednesday and Thursday.

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