Samenvatting

The author discusses relevant differences in tax treatment within the Dutch category of charities, religion, spirituality and philosophy and between this and other Dutch categories of charities. In the Dutch charity scheme, the difference can be traced back to the legal form of ‘kerkgenootschap’. In the (implementation of the) tax laws, she notes differences in, among other things, the real estate tax and the energy tax refund. Insofar as there is no objective and reasonable justification for the differences in tax treatment, the author advocates removing those differences and makes recommendations to that effect.