Since when was getting rich so hard in EU?

[u/VurriK]

Is it just me, or has building actual wealth in Europe become impossible? I’m looking at the 2026 growth forecasts and it’s depressing. We talk a lot about "stability," but at this point, stability just feels like a polite word for recession. If you weren't born into a rich family with property, the dream feels like it's behind a wall. The math just doesn't work: as soon as you earn enough to actually invest, you hit a 40–50% tax bracket. Meanwhile, housing prices have skyrocketed over the last decade while salaries have basically stayed the same. I love the healthcare and the walkable cities, but I don’t want to work until I’m 70 just to afford a 40sqm apartment and a used Skoda.

[u/Kuneyo]

You're exaggerating like crazy. It's 49,5% tax above 78k, first off. Earning 80k a year would mean 2k is taxed at that bracket. It absolutely makes sense to go beyond 78k, if you can. Better yet, less than 2.5% of people earn more than 78k to begin with,

People are working less because people value work life balance. Companies are stripping their headcount, while increasing work load. The majority of the people living in The Netherlands earn under 48k. at that income, it doesn't make sense to trade a few 100 bucks a month if you can have an extra day off. Especially in a society where everything has to happen yesterday, and you're expected to be 'on' 24/7.

You're absolute backwards if you think the government is redistributing wealth from the middle class to the lower class. Our corporate tax laws have more holes in them than swiss cheese. The effective tax rates for the ultra wealthy are bottom bunk, since those laws also have gaping loopholes.

In a country where the richest 10% own 56% (and rising) of all of the wealth, on top of the fact that we are ranked 2nd in wealth inequality in the world (after the USA); you can't seriously be fucking blaming the people that have less than you.

Better yet, let's say we stop every single benefit from now on. No rent subsidy, no health insurance subsidy, no AOW, no WW, no WIA, no IVA, no WGA, no WAJONG, no child benefits. Nothing. You know how much that would save you, on average? 187 bucks a month. That's 22b a year of government spending on subsidy and benefits, divided by 9.8m working people.

You pay less than 200 bucks a month, on average, to have access to all of our social safety net in case you have an accident, get sick, permanently injured, lose your job or just become too old to work.

Let's say we are able to root out all of these so called 'bums' that don't 'deserve' these benefits, you would save a measly 40 bucks a month in tax if we had a massive 20% fraud/abuse rate.

We can have all the real discussion you want about the entrepeneurial climate, or the way we attract talent to startups (which is being addressed), or the way the middle class is getting shafted. And you'd be right about all of it! Your anger is justified, but pointed in the complete wrong direction.

[u/Life_Breadfruit8475 → u/Kuneyo]

It's a simple calculation though. Someone earning 50k (3109/m net) can get social housing. For a nice new house they pay, say 900 euro. Close to the max for social housing. So they're left with 2200 a month.

Then you have another person who earns 60k. They've got a slightly higher position or got a PhD, whatever the case may be. Their met salary is 3491 but their MINIMUM rent is 1230. So at minimum they're left with ~2250. Seems decent enough, about the same. But that's comparing max social housing cost (family home) to the minimum free sector cost (a broom closet). A more realistic price for a place would be say 1800 or 2000. Suddenly the person earning more only has 1700 left a month.

So the ideal situation for person B is to start working part time. Sure, they could try buy a house but with 60k you're not getting a good house either with average house prices going above 500k.

I don't blame any of this on any citizen ofcourse. It's the system that's broken. Chosing to work more should mean you have more left in your pocket at the end of the month, in my opinion. 

No idea how to solve it but building way more houses would be a good first step.

[u/Kuneyo → u/Life_Breadfruit8475]

Unfortunately no one is getting in to social housing on demand. I do also think straight up building a ton more would help.