Local council taxes are going up very little this year for people who live in bigger Dutch towns and cities, according to research by Groningen University.

On average, people will pay €5, or 0.8 percentage point, more in property and waste disposal taxes this year. Taking inflation into account, this is a slight drop.

The lowest charges are in The Hague, and Amsterdam is one of nine major councils which are cutting their local taxes, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

However, there are sharp differences between different local authority areas. In The Hague, for example, the average property tax is €126 while in Nijmegen it is €444.

This, the researchers say, shows the impact of last year’s local elections. Nijmegen, for example, has a left-wing council which believes home owners should subsidise those who are less well off. In The Hague, however, the VVD has been keen to cut the taxes on home ownership.

Research covering the rest of the country’s 400 local councils will be published later.