The Dutch business community has reacted angrily to Wednesday’s news that the finance minister is to suspend three energy and environmental tax incentives until the beginning of 2008.

This is the second consecutive year that the tax breaks have been stopped because their budgets have been exceeded. Last year the budget was over-subscribed by €123m on a total allocation of €257m.
A budget of €263m is available for the three tax breaks in 2008 but chances are that the criteria for the incentives will be tightened, says the Financieele Dagblad.
‘Investments that result in a lot of energy being saved were scrapped from the list,’ Jan Haverdings of SenterNovum, the government body responsible for operating the system, told the newspaper: ‘Because of the high electricity price, these investments pay for themselves and fiscal incentives are not needed.’
According to SenterNovum, businesses have invested €2.5bn in energy efficiency and environmental improvements in 2007, reports the NRC Handelsblad.