Prevailing explanations for the rise of far-right parties are rooted in long-term economic and demographic shifts, such as industrial decline and migration. In several cases, however, far-right parties register sharp gains in vote share over relatively short intervals. What explains sudden increases in far right support? We evaluate this puzzle in the context of the Netherlands, where the far-right, populist Freedom Party (PVV) more than doubled its share between the 2021 and 2023 general elections, becoming the biggest party in the Dutch parliament. We find no evidence in support of standard explanations. Change in municipalities’ far-right vote share does not correlate with exposure to Ukrainian refugees, a plausibly exogenous source of new migrants, or proxies for housing costs. Our findings are instead consistent with backlash from small businesses owners required to repay COVID relief funds. Our findings shed new light on the societal determinants of far-right populist support in post-industrial economies by highlighting the role of small and medium sized enterprises and the distributional consequences of subsidies to large businesses.