The cabinet will announce a reduction in taxes and premiums for businesses totalling almost €1bn on budget day, reports Friday’s Financieele Dagblad. On top of this, the economic affairs ministry will allocate an extra €500m for innovation, the paper says.

The FD bases its report on sources close to the government and says that the measures mark the first fall in taxes and premiums for businesses since 2003. They are due to be officially announced on September 16.
Part of the reduction will come from lowering employers’ contribution to unemployment benefit (WW) premiums. This was initially intended to compensate them for a proposed rise in vat (btw).
Although the vat increase has now been dropped, the lower WW premium will still be implemented because of the worsening economic climate and to encourage wage moderation, the paper says.