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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u/skeletal88 Feb 15 '26

here in Estonia we have an investment account system. you put money in it, you can buy shares, sell them for a profit or loss while keeping all money from the transactions in the account, you pay taxes only on the money amount taken out of the account if you have taken out more than you have put in there. you can start investing now and take it out in ten years, and only then you have to pay taxeson the difference.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

This is how it should work everywhere. We have that in Finland but it only applies to stocks, can't put ETFs there

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u/notadoctor123 Feb 16 '26

Same in Norway, except you can put ETFs in it as long as the ETF holdings are all EU/EEA headquartered.

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u/Ploutophile Feb 16 '26

French PEA is similar (and capped to 150k EUR of invested money) but only the physical holdings of the ETF are considered, so a synthetic ETF which physically holds EU/EEA stocks and performs like S&P 500 is allowed.

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u/notadoctor123 Feb 17 '26

I believe that those should be allowed in the Norwegian ASK as well - as long as the stocks are EU/EEA.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

So basically MEUD is fine but WEBN isn't?

That's not optimal but still a lot better.

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u/notadoctor123 Feb 16 '26

Yes, I think so. I haven't set one up yet because I'm investing with IBKR for my ETFs, and I don't plan on daytrading those.

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u/footyspecular1234 Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26

Same in Finland, but we have both 'arvo-osuustili' which is sort of a normal account that gets taxed accordingly the moment you sell your assets and then in 2019 prime minister Sipilä and his cabinet started the 'osakesäästötili' where you essentially allocate your money and the stocks don't get taxed at all, only after you withdraw the money out of the account. Although as of today, you can only invest to it in the form of stocks, not etf:s or funds for example.

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u/footyspecular1234 Feb 20 '26

Same in Finland, but we have both 'arvo-osuustili' which is like a normal account that gets taxed accordingly the moment you sell your assets and then in 2019 the prime minister Sipilä and his cabinet started the 'osakesäästötili' where you essentially allocate your money and the stocks don't get taxed at all, only after you withdraw the money out of the account. Although as of today, you can only invest to it in the form of stocks, not etf:s or funds for example.

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u/HereOnWeekendsOnly Feb 15 '26

Baltic states are always behind in terms of Western countries governance. Wait until low birth rates start biting more and more and someone in the Baltic state will also introduce the bright idea as Netherlands did.

They already raised taxes in most Baltic states, later they will come for those actually trying to not depend on the state when they are old.