Tax authorities have ‘ample opportunity’ to leak information | Politics

This is stated in a study that outgoing State Secretary Marnix van Rij of Finance shared with the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The Tax Authorities asked research agency KPMG in 2022 to conduct an investigation into the organization’s “resilience” against criminal infiltration. This happened in response to signals about possible corruption.

The Tax Authorities have a wealth of information for criminals, KPMG concludes. KPMG mentions all kinds of different tactics that criminals can use to obtain that information, from bribery to infiltration. Civil servants who are dissatisfied with the state of affairs at the tax authorities are “potentially weak links”.

Tax officials are reluctant to report signs of corruption, KPMG further says. They think that reporting is pointless or are afraid that reporting can have negative consequences. “Employees are more likely to talk about each other than with each other.”

The conclusions are “solid”, Van Rij himself writes to the House. He sees the research as encouragement to continue with a program to increase the resilience of the Tax Authorities. According to the State Secretary, keeping a close eye on data flows is “not always technically possible”.

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