Week 45

Week 45

Fixing up old shed at the back of the hay shed. A new client has "hired" the storage space AND is also fixing it up! He seems to be a bit of a hoarder though, so we need to keep an eye on the "boundaries" and the number of old cars and trailers!

Our temporary driveway while the building works are going on. Still waiting on revised estimates for the work.....

Lucas celebrated 7 years with us - he is always enthusiastic and really enjoys being involved.

One of our former kids used to like anything to to do with wood fires - he knew all about best wood to burn, drying times and different models. He made contact with Janny on Facebook and asked for updated photos of our fires in action! He must be close to 20 now and is apparently still keen on his hobby.

A new girl started this week - just for the day on Saturdays - she had a good time and wants to come back - always a good sign! It was funny to see the different dynamic with a few of the boys - all of a sudden they seem to be growing up as well. 

From the newspaper this week.

A couple of things caught my eye; 

1. Friesland's biggest ever marijuana growing operation being found by the authorities. Not far from Wijnjewoude - in an old dairy products factory in Esloo. 10000 plants, no less. The people who did it must be fairly stupid is all I could think of..... the police had a tip off from the electricity supplier for the region. Even though they had tapped the electricity illegally, the high usage was still being detected by the company. Apparently it takes a lot of power to give light and warmth to the plants when they are indoors - the power consumption is often the main giveaway. It was also the second time the building had been used for this function. The (remote) owner had no knowledge of the operation as he just let the facilities as storage. The social "norm" here would be for people to report anything remotely suspicious, so I can't imagine anywhere in Friesland or The Netherlands for that matter, escaping the eye of inquisitive neighbours.

2. A shipload of potatoes left Harlingen for Algeria - just got my attention because of the logistics and organisation of the whole exercise.

Car Taxes

In a word UNBELIEVABLE! 

I have often wondered at the 45% "Special Private Motor Tax" known as BPM. I remember talking to a guy probably 20 years ago - when I queried him about it - in terms of "why not throw the Government out for daring to impoverish it's own people" ? He just shrugged his shoulders and said something like "they would just get it another way". This shrug is now known to me as "The Netherlands Shrug" - they truly seem to just accept it as part of life.

My thinking has changed over the years as far as high taxes in general (and the obvious benefits thereof) but the Special Automobile Tax remains in the realm of Totally Unreasonable. The reason it has come to my attention again is that we are looking for another car.... we found an Audi Station wagon in Germany - 2007 model with ALL extras as the Germans like to do - for only €7000.

But to import it and pay the BPM makes it €11000 in The Netherlands. The Dutch Government is the only one in the EU that has this level of car tax - I thought they had been told by the EU that it had to go, but not yet, evidently. I am reminded of my years earlier conversation that "they will just find another way".

Below is a table showing how the price of a €25000 (Catalogue Price) car, becomes €48000 (remember, ONLY in The Netherlands). They even apply the GST (BTW) first - now 22% and THEN the 42.5% BPM. (Some of this is related to CO2 emissions - the area where Volkswagen have landed in trouble - by declaring lower emissions, the Dutch people have paid less tax on their new car - so the Govt. are now talking of reclaiming that money from Volkswagen.

catalogusprijs (netto)		€	25.040
BTW (21,0%)		€	5.258
BPM (0,0%)		€	0
BPM brandstoftoeslag		€	0
BPM toeslag energielabel		€	0
BPM toeslag CO2-uitstoot		€	17.747
catalogusprijs (bruto)		€	48.045