Prime minister Mark Rutte has pledged to begin the process of reforming the tax system and will come up with concrete plans next summer.

Answering MPs criticisms during the second day of debate on the government’s 2015 spending plans, Rutte said the plans would be worked out ‘in the run up to the 2016 budget’.

The measures will include changes to the way motoring is taxed and a shift from direct to indirect taxation.

However, opposition demands that the plan be completed by February 1 are ‘too soon’, the prime minister said.

Four years

The last time the tax system was updated took four years, Rutte told parliament. The most important result of the reforms should be to create jobs and simplify the tax system.

The cabinet had been expected to publish its reforms earlier this year but insiders say the two coalition parties are divided on the approach.

One element of the overhaul will involve replacing the plethora of supplementary benefits, such as housing support and childcare subsidies, with a single payment.