Last year some 400,000 people worked without paying taxes, depriving the nation’s coffers of around €4bn, broadcaster NOS concludes using figures from statistics office CBS.

The cleaning sector is the worst culprit, with an estimated debt to the tax office of €1.44bn. The building industry is suspected of stealing €800m and hairdressers are thought to be cheating the nation out of €441m.

All in all, hundreds of millions in income tax have not been paid in and that is not including any benefits people may have received without meriting them, the broadcaster calculated.

VAT declarations are usually a way of finding out business turnover, CBS head economist Peter Hein van Mulligen explained, but definitive numbers are tricky to fathom. ‘To find out how much is made in the black economy we need more creative methods,’ he told the broadcaster.

‘When it’s hairdressers, we look at the population of the Netherlands and how many visits to the hairdresser’s people make on average. That will give you an idea of the complete turnover figure for hairdressers. If we see that the real amount [declared] is much lower, then the conclusion must be that people are not paying their taxes. It’s either that or there are lots of long-haired people that we never see on the streets,’

The tax office told the broadcaster it is not keeping a record of the number of fines doled out to income tax dodgers, or of the number of checks.

‘There is always more we can do to check,’ junior finance minister Menno Snel said. ‘If people are not paying income tax on a large scale then we will tackle that.’

Asked if a total of €4bn was large enough to tackle, the junior minister said he is willing to go after tax dodgers but has a limited workforce.