Menno Snel

Menno Snel (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch politician. A member of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, he served as State Secretary for Finance from 26 October 2017 until his resignation on 18 December 2019.[1]

Menno Snel
Snel in 2018
State Secretary for Finance
In office
26 October 2017 – 18 December 2019
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byEric Wiebes
Succeeded byAlexandra van Huffelen
Hans Vijlbrief
Personal details
Born
Menno Snel

(1970-10-29) 29 October 1970
Vleuten-De Meern, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Political partyDemocrats 66 (from 2017)
Children2 children
ResidenceThe Hague
Alma materUniversity of Groningen
(Bachelor of Economics, Master of Economics)
OccupationPolitician · Civil servant · Economist · Banker · Financial adviser · Corporate director

Education

Snel was born in Vleuten-De Meern in the province of Utrecht. He studied general economics between 1988 and 1994 at the University of Groningen, where he was a board member at the student association RKSV Albertus Magnus.

Career

Professional life

After graduation, he worked at the Dutch bank MeesPierson. In 1995, he joined the Ministry of Finance, of which a while as the Deputy Director-General for Fiscal Affairs, a position he was appointed in at age 33.[2] During his time at the Finance Ministry, he worked on various dossiers, including the budget policy (most notably the Zalmnorm instituted by Gerrit Zalm) and international tax competition between countries.[2]

He later worked for the pension fund APG, where he held from 2009 to 2011 the position of director strategy and policy. Between 2011 and 2016 he worked in Washington, D.C. with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its daily governance and on 1 September 2016 he was appointed as Chairman of the Board of the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank.[1][2]

Politics

On 26 October 2017, he joined the newly formed Third Rutte cabinet as State Secretary for Finance. He joined the Democrats 66 (D66) a short while before his appointment and was considered a surprise and technical appointment by many.[3] His portfolio includes Fiscal Affairs, Lower Governmental Finances, the Royal Dutch Mint, Holland Casino and the State Lottery. His primary challenge is expected to be the reform of the Tax and Customs Administration, which went through a lot of turmoil in the recent past.[3]

Recently, Snel has been accused of (knowingly) unlawfully reclaiming subsidies paid out to citizens, for children, thus forcing these citizens into bankruptcies or lifelong repayment schemes.[4] At least 300 parents have been affected, but were promised reimbursement by the government. The government has accused the Tax Service as a whole responsible. Employees were afraid to speak out in fear of losing their jobs. Hints of fraud have been hinted at from as early as 2014.

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References
  1. Ministerie van Financiën. "CV Menno Snel". www.rijksoverheid.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  2. Kranenburg, Mark (2017-10-27). "Nog maar net D66-lid, nu aankomend staatssecretaris". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  3. Brandsma, Jelle (2017-12-17). "Menno Snel, een ambtenaar die per ongeluk in de politiek verzeild raakte". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  4. Bontjes, Annelies (2019-11-27). "Staatssecretaris Snel hield documenten achter in toeslagenaffaire". NRC (in Dutch). NRC.
Official
Political offices
Preceded by
Eric Wiebes		 State Secretary for Finance
2017–2019		 Succeeded by
Hans Vijlbrief and Alexandra van Huffelen
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