AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (CelebrityAccess) — The Affiliation of Occasion Makers (VVEM) within the Netherlands has raised “main issues” over a deliberate Worth Added Tax (VAT) enhance that VVEM says may have a big influence the Dutch occasion trade.

The proposed change introduced by the brand new Dutch authorities will greater than double the present VAT price of 9% to 21% beginning in 2026.

In accordance with the VVEM, the elevated tax price may have “far-reaching penalties” for Dutch artists and for promoters and entrepreneurs within the dwell occasions trade, which employs greater than 100,000 individuals within the European nation.

“This makes our nation much less engaging for large-scale (worldwide) productions and places nice strain on the enterprise local weather on this sector,” the VVEM stated in an announcement opposing the tax enhance.

“This introduced enhance weakens the aggressive place of our trade in comparison with neighboring international locations, the place low charges are nonetheless charged. Which means giant, worldwide productions will probably be absent extra typically and festivals will lose their viewers to occasions in neighboring international locations, with all of the monetary penalties that entails. This coverage places the Dutch occasions trade, which is a worldwide chief, at a serious drawback. The VVEM suspects that the brand new authorities has not realized {that a} measure like it will hit atypical Dutch individuals laborious, who wish to go to occasions. The flywheel impact is that the enterprise local weather within the trade can also be hit laborious. We want to enter into discussions with a brand new authorities to persuade them to not take this measure,” the VVEM assertion continued.