Joop Wijn
Joannes Gerardus (Joop) Wijn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjoːp ˈʋɛi̯n]; born 20 May 1969) was Minister of Economic Affairs in the third Balkenende cabinet of the Netherlands.
Wijn was born in Haarlem and has a master's degree in both economics and Dutch law from the University of Amsterdam. As a student, he worked as an intern with Shell in Jakarta, Indonesia. He also worked as an economics teacher and started his own company, a search and selection agency. After his graduation in 1994, he was employed by ABN Amro as an investment manager, responsible for the financing of companies in transition, e.g. start-ups, expansion, and management buyouts.
In 1998, he became a member of parliament for the Christian Democrats (CDA). As an MP he focused on public finances, small businesses and immigration politics. In 2000 he was also one of the few CDA MPs that voted in favour of a law making same-sex marriages legal in the Netherlands.[1][2] The debate about same-sex marriage caused friction between his personal life and his political affiliation, as Wijn himself is gay.[2]
In July 2002, Wijn became a junior minister (staatssecretaris) for Economic Affairs in the first Balkenende cabinet, responsible for foreign trade. In the second Balkenende cabinet he was junior Minister of Finance, and among other things responsible for the functioning of the Internal Revenue Service. He transformed the IRS into an organisation that not only collects but also redistributes funds, e.g. for healthcare expenses, rent support and child benefits. His platform was the reduction of red tape and the promotion of tax benefits for families with children.
Wijn is credited with leading the creation of the famous Dutch Sandwich BEPS tax scheme, one of the world's largest tax sheltering BEPS tools, (amongst other Dutch multinational BEPS tools, including Dutch "double dip" hybrid Debt-based BEPS tool, as used by Dutch based global mining/resource companies to avoid taxes in developing nations[3][4]), after lobbying from U.S. tax lawyers from 2003-2006.[5][6] They are credited with making the Netherlands one of the world’s largest corporate tax havens (see the ten major tax havens).
Wijn left politics after a new cabinet was installed. He was asked earlier by the CDA party leadership to take on the parliamentary leadership of his party, but Wijn declined that position in August.
In June 2007 Joop Wijn became a director of Rabobank Nederland, in 2009 Gerrit Zalm asked him to join ABN-AMRO, which he did.
See also
References
- ↑ "Interview Joop Wijn" (in Dutch). Vrij Nederland. 2003-01-11.
- 1 2 "Joop Wijn, een empathische streber". Intermediair. 2007-01-30. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
- ↑ "The Netherlands: a tax haven continuing its contribution to the corporate tax race to the bottom (translated)" (PDF). Oxfam Novib. May 2016.
- ↑ "Dutch masters of tax avoidance". The Guardian. 19 October 2011.
- ↑ "DE CORRESPONDENT REVEALS HOW THE NETHERLANDS BECAME TAX HAVEN". Oxfam/DE Correspondant. May 2017.
- ↑ "Zo werd Nederland het grootste belastingparadijs voor Amerikaanse multinationals". De Correspondant. 1 June 2017.
| Preceded by Gerrit Ybema |
Junior Minister of Economic Affairs 2002 – 2003 |
Succeeded by Karien van Gennip |
| Preceded by Steven van Eijck |
Junior Minister of Finance 2003 – 7 July 2006 |
Succeeded by Gerrit Zalm (ad interim) |
| Preceded by Laurens Jan Brinkhorst |
Minister of Economic Affairs 7 July 2006 – 22 February 2007 |
Succeeded by Maria van der Hoeven |
|  | |