A number of venture capitalists are threatening to leave the Netherlands if MPs vote in favour of a plan to increase tax on their profits from 1.2% to 52%, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday.

‘This is a slap in the face. Many will move operations to Luxemburg and Belgium,’ Rob Thielen of Waterland Private Equity told the paper. ‘We are entrepreneurs. We take the risk.’
The tax hike is one of finance minister Wouter Bos’s plans to tackle excessive pay packets. The aim is to ‘take a more balanced approach to taxing private equity mangers’ profits,’ the paper says.
Floris van Alkemade of Solid Ventures, a company that invests in high tech firms, says his firm will stop if the tax goes through, with serious consequences for small firms. ‘This will be disastrous for the policy of innovation,’ he told the paper.
The Dutch association of venture capital groups NVP has written to MPs warning them of the consequences.