In a country where the income tax rate begins at 35% too and quickly goes to 49%. Then on the money you have left you pay 21% VAT on every single thing you buy. I'm not going to list every single additional tax (inheritance tax 20% to 40%, etc.) but there are many.
And then they decided that should you invest some of what you have left, you'd have to pay 36% annually on unrealized gains.
It's pure insanity: thankfully they're rethinking this madness.
sampo•1h ago
"Dutch Lawmakers Approve a 36% Tax on Unrealized Crypto, Stock, and Bond Gains"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47008391
But now the Dutch are maybe backing away from it.
theluketaylor•5m ago
0.1%ers borrowing against stocks and others assets and paying little more than minimum interest is a system-breaking loophole that has exploded the wealth gap. It needs to stop. Taxing unrealized gains isn't the fix. Leveraging an asset needs to be a realized gain.
People should be paying capital gains on the delta between book value vs the asset valuation at loan time. They are gaining from the asset appreciation to have access to more leverage and that gain should be taxable. This would re-set the book value so people don't pay capital gains multiple times on the same gain, but they shouldn't be able to defer the gain forever while using debt to avoid tax.
There should probably be a lifetime exemption of around $1 million to allow the middle class to leverage their home and other key assets in a way the richest have benefitted from for so long, but once you use up your exemption no more tax-free leverage.