The government is within its rights to impose an extra tax on high earners and is not breaking international treaties, a court in The Hague ruled on Wednesday.

A number of employers, including football club Feyenoord, took legal action against the government for making it pay an extra tax on high earners’ salaries for a second year.

In 2012 all employers had to pay a one-off ‘crisis tax’ of 16% on the salaries of staff earning more than €150,000 a year. Then last year, the government said it would impose the ‘one-off’ tax for a second time.

Employers are particularly angry that the tax is applied retroactively. Financial experts had said the legal case had a good chance of succeeding because it was approved after companies had paid out their 2012 bonuses. This, they said, conflicts with European law.The tax generates some €628m which the government used to reduce the budget deficit.