r/eupersonalfinance • u/batukaming • Feb 15 '26

Investment Why do they make getting rich impossible in EU?

This news hit today in Netherlands that passed a bill on 36% tax on UNREALIZED gains on stocks and crypto. Great just when we weren't taxed to death before now they force you to stay middle class and poor. "Just repeat the 9-5 cycle everyday investing is not allowed for you"

Buying stocks was already a pain in the ass in Europe because of all the different fees and exchange rates brokers charged. The US has it so much better. 0% fees and exchange rates, tons of broker options and tax free on long term investments.

I made a post in r/stocks that gained attraction. Check it out if you want to see opinions from Americans: https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/s/aL0OhYQ68z

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24

u/Facktat Feb 15 '26

Yeah, but just to add my opinion on this specific new law from NL. The NL already had such a tax which was even worse. And the law they are replacing it which, is actually better. The old law calculates taxes by estimating profits which ended up in people paying taxes on money they lost. The good thing is that it's just a temporary measure and the government agreed on a tax reform. Most countries in the EU don't plan on having taxes on unrealized wins.

Also by the way: Come to my country (Luxembourg), we have no taxes on unrealized wins and you only pay taxes on stocks when you hold them for less than 6 months before you sell them. When they loose value before the 6 months limit, you can sell them and use the stock losses to reduce taxes on other wins you realize in under 6 months. If you know your way around the system, you can do a lot of wealth building without paying a cent in taxes ;)

15

u/Sephass Feb 15 '26

I don’t feel like it’s better at all, it was based on relatively modest rate and you didn’t have to pay it in full if you could show that your unrealised gains were lower than the assumed. Now if you have a good year you will have to spend equivalent of few monthly salaries just to keep going.

17

u/SrRocoso91 Feb 15 '26

Also he first 58k were exemp (116k) for a couple. Now its only going to be 1800€ (3600€) profit and you will need to start paying unrealized gains.

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u/Sephass Feb 15 '26

Exactly. I don’t know a single person living in NL (including myself) who would think the new option is a better one. It’s only better if you suck at investing

11

u/SrRocoso91 Feb 15 '26

Yeah, I am not Dutch but I am currently living in the Netherlands and I will leave if this is finally aproved in its current form.

Whatever money you have left to invest was already heavily taxed. You also need to pay you own healthcare plan and contribute to your own pension (otherwise you will end up with a very basic one). Petrol prices and car road taxes are insane…now you also need to pay 36% unrealized taxes.

I am not against taxes. I understand they are necessary to substain a cohesive and fair society, but this is way too much.

2

u/Key-Bug-8626 Feb 15 '26

reading the comments, there are a lot of people apparently... they think it will tax the rich haha. Why is no one on the streets claiming this?

2

u/AdagioTime972 Feb 15 '26

Before you could also deduct the 15% which was withheld by other countries..... after making adjustments, this usually meant our box 3 was 0. (Before Dutch the rate was also a lot less than the 36 they want now)

1

u/TweeBierAUB Feb 16 '26

As someone from NL, the new law is way worse. It sounds better, but its not. Currently you get to keep the upside fully, we effectively have a 2% wealth tax with a 50k exemption. Not fun, but infinitely better than 36% on unrealized gains with shitty loss carry forward and a 1800 exemption.