Dutch govt plans 30 pct tax on big bonuses

AMSTERDAM, March 14 (Reuters) - The Dutch government plans to tax executive bonuses by 30 percent in some cases and is considering other curbs on high-flyers' incomes after criticism of big payouts.

If a company pays a bonus of 500,000 euros ($779,400) or more when an executive leaves, and the bonus exceeds the executive's annual salary, it will have to pay a 30 percent levy on the bonus, the cabinet said in a statement on Friday.

There will also be a 15 percent employer tax on pension contributions a firm makes for employees that earn more than 500,000 euros annually and whose pensions are based on the salaries they earned at the end of their employment, it said.

The proposals have to be approved by Parliament.

Private equity managers face a tax increase to 25 percent from 1.2 percent when they sell part or all of their investments and the proceeds are not in proportion to the amount of own money they had invested, a spokesman for the Dutch Finance Ministry said.

The cabinet also plans to exclude executives from decision making if they have dual interests related to cases such as takeovers and share ownership.

Politicians debated with Finance Minister Wouter Bos last year about executive pay after the sale of some major Dutch companies, saying there was no clear link between pay and performance.

The former chief executive of ABN AMRO AAH.AS, Rijkman Groenink, earned 24.3 million euros in severance payments and sales of shares and options as ABN was bought last year by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Fortis (FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) and Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research).

Food group Numico NUMCc.AS CEO Jan Bennink sold 77.8 million euros worth of shares and options after French rival Danone (DANO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) bought the company for 12.3 billion euros last year. (Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Mike Elliott)