The presidents of the N-VA, MR, Engagés, Vooruit and CD&V met for the first time on Sunday at 2 p.m. on the theme of taxation, at least since this theme was briefly submitted to a group technical work last week. Tax reform is one of the most sensitive subjects of the federal formation, if only because the formation of the government on this subject has already failed twice.
Just last week, the subject gave rise to lively discussions, we learned from the negotiators. The overall scale of the exercise was particularly at the center of a divergence. The CD&V, which had presented with the Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem a tax reform project during the previous legislature, does not wish to reduce its scope too much. The MR of Georges-Louis Bouchez would propose another, more modest approach.
Questioned Thursday evening, during the program “Jeudi en prime” (RTBF), the president of Les Engagés, Maxime Prévot, mentioned a reform of 5 billion euros – an amount of 10 billion had been cited previously – “with issues of support for competitiveness, purchasing power and those who work”, without specifying the terms on the table.
On Saturday, at the N-VA’s New Year’s reception in Mechelen, Bart De Wever promised activists and supporters that the new federal government would in no case increase the tax burden. He did not specify whether it would include a tax cut, as requested by Georges-Louis Bouchez.
