The Netherlands just approved a 36% tax on unrealized financial gains. Yes, this is on top of
the crazy income tax rates that they have up to 50%. And no, this isn't tax on
realized gains. This is on unrealized gains. And it's not just for the wealthy. No, this will be
everyone. And more countries could be set to follow. In simple terms, this crazy new plan
means the Dutch government is going to tax people on their assets, even if they haven't sold or made
a profit on them. And when I say a profit here, by that, I mean they haven't sold the asset
in order to take or realize that profit or gain, meaning they haven't actually made a profit.
Despite what the government is claiming, the Dutch government has obviously lost their way.
They spend over 6 billion euros each year on foreign aid and almost 10 billion euros on asylum related
costs. That's a combined total of over 16 billion euros per year. And yet they keep crying about
being in huge debt, running out of funds or deficit in the budget. Well, it's pretty obvious
where to cut. I mean, anybody can figure this one out. This isn't difficult. But no, rather than
cutting the 16 billion euros a year, they instead want to tax the citizens more. Hmm, I think
we've seen a bit of a pattern here starting to repeat throughout Europe. Yep, when I actually
did these calculations, I don't expect the tax to bring in much more than 2 billion euros
per year. And that is at today's rate based on all the citizens and the wealth that's in the
country. But it's pretty obvious what's going to happen and we'll come to that later. But
you've got two options, right? Think about it. You're the government. Do you do a 16 billion
euro cut? Or do you do a 2 billion euro tax increase? Hmm, what a difficult decision.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is nuts. And it will not only cause many more people to leave the country,
but it will also cause even more people to lose faith in the government. But I know what you're
thinking, well, what does this look like, Neil, in terms of finances and numbers? Normally,
you'll give us figures. So let me do that now. I'll give you a very simple example here.
So let's say that you invest 1000 euros in the stock market this year,
because you want to create your own little pension pot for when you retire one day. Now,
I know you're going to say, Neil, 1000 euros is not going to do anything. I know, but let's just
use this as an example. Nice even numbers. Well, congratulations, because you picked the right
stocks or stock. And after one year, those stocks doubled to now be worth 2000 euros. So
well done. You are a master stock picker. But here's the kicker. The government steps in and says to
you, congratulations on the 1000 euro gain. Now you owe us 360 euros. And it's to you now in cash.
Yes. And you shout, but I didn't sell anything. I didn't cash out. I didn't even touch it.
But the government says too bad. You owe us. So you're forced to sell some of these shares
just to pay the tax bill. And guess what? Everyone else might have to do the same thing at the
exact same time. That means that selling pressure could spike making the stock drop to say
being worth 800 euros. Now, it's not a typical example, of course, but it's possible. So after
tax, then you've only got 440 euros left. In year two, the stocks rebound to 1200 euros. And guess
what? The government then makes another 144 euros. And you'll say, hold on, hold on. I'm losing money
here. More forced selling because you've got to pay the tax bill. So the price drops again.
You're now down to 756 euros. Year three then, the stock crawls back to around 1000 euros,
exactly where it started. And in three years, you've absolutely gained nothing. Yet the government
still wants another 36 euros, meaning your total taxes paid were 540 euros. But your total actual
gain was zero. This means that 460 euros left your pocket. So you actually lost 54% on an investment
that you broke even at. And the only guaranteed winner here then is the government. Thank you
for your contribution, they say. Really? They don't even say that. So now you can see why this
is so crazy. And why I keep saying that many of these politicians do not understand finance and
economics. And they need people that do understand it. Because this is just so obvious. So this is
the direction that the Netherlands is going in. One of Europe's most powerful countries financially.
It's disturbing, ladies and gentlemen. Now, if you're fed up with the mainstream media
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a penny. So, ladies and gentlemen, what we're watching here then is a real shift
in how countries will tax your future. Because when a country that's positioned itself as stable
and capital friendly suddenly starts to shift and then starts taxing paper gains, which is what they
are, every single year, it means that everyday people and wealthy investors will have to make
big decisions about where to hold their assets going forward. And I know that I wouldn't want
to stay in a country that did that to me. No way. In fact, I didn't. Once the taxes got too high
where I lived, I simply got up and moved because I'm not a tree. So I'm not rooted in the ground
and neither are you. Now, I get it's not easy for everyone to up and move and change things
around, but pretty much everyone can make some changes that will benefit them in some ways.
But let me give you some of the maths or maths if you're in the UK on this. So let's put this into
some other real numbers then so you can see how this plays out. Now, let's take a Dutch
resident who's a bit older. So let's say they've got about 500,000 euros in their investment
portfolio. So they're not ultra wealthy, just someone who saved diligently their entire
career. So their entire life, they're sort of retirement age now. They've got about half
a million euros. Now remember, they've already paid the taxes on that. First of all, the government
hasn't done anything for them to have built that up. You know, maybe they've even inherited
some money. They've built up a decent nest egg in a public company or funds or something like
that. And that's how they have a strong year. Okay, so this year they make a 12% return,
which means that the portfolio increases by 60,000 euros on paper. Well, under the new system,
that 60,000 euros is going to be taxed at 36%. That's 21,600 euros out of their pension pot.
But then next year, let's say the market doesn't increase by 12%. Let's say it drops by 15%. So the
portfolio falls to 476,000 euros. So they say, well, the losses offset your future gains.
But the 21,600 you paid last year doesn't come back. Over a decade with average 8% annual returns,
that half a million generates roughly 40,000 euros in gains per year. At 36%, that's about
14,400 that flows out to the government. So over 10 years, that's 144,000 transferred out of your
account to the government. So if you're a typical person now, and you're trying to save
for your retirement, I mean, it's obvious people are going to get up and they're going to leave.
And remember, you've already paid either 37% tax, okay, that's in the Netherlands, or it's 50% or
think it's 49.5% tax on your income. So for some people, that can be as much as half of
the income gone. And then what they'll do is they'll have that 50% remaining, which is in their bank
account because 50% has gone on tax. And then they'll invest that, and then they'll get taxed at 36%
percent on any gain. This is a wicked, wicked system designed to drain every last penny
from the people and pass that wealth to the government. It's morally wrong, ladies and
gentlemen, my friends, it's morally wrong. But here's what the Dutch government doesn't seem
to understand. Wealthy individuals won't pay the tax. They will look at other country's tax rates,
they'll look at the quality of life and where else they might get treated better. Then they will
simply move accordingly. And you just look at what's happened in recent years in the UK.
It's got the biggest outflow of wealthy individuals in the world. And this is just a
tiny little country. So the Netherlands obviously hasn't learned this lesson. The UK tax base
has shrunk as a result in line with those forecasts I made for you two or three years ago.
Isn't it interesting as well, the forecasts I make for you years and years back, as far back as 2020
and how they come to fruition, it's kind of scary in a way that even some of the more extreme
forecasts have come to pass. And you may say, well, Neil, where are they going? Where do you
some people instantly think it will be the UAE for the low tax jurisdiction, no personal income tax?
But I actually think they'd be more likely to go to somewhere like Italy, because it's more
familiar to EU residents. It's not quite a big culture shift as the UAE would be. And Italy's
really trying to attract a lot of high net worth individuals at the moment that are relocating
because they've got a number of flat rate tax programs. But there's also a number of jurisdictions
now competing directly for people with money. And I predict that we're going to see a lot more
over the next few years. You're even seeing this in some countries you would never expect
before. Now I've just given you a couple of simple examples there of just an average
everyday person. But what if I were to give you an example of say 10 wealthy individuals,
high net worth individuals who have about 50 million euros each in assets? Well, in strong years,
each will pay one to two million easily in taxes easily. So that's 10 to 20 million in yearly revenue
flowing to the government. Now if those 10 individuals change residency, guess what goes
with them? All of those taxes. But the tax loss is actually secondary to what follows
because high net worth individuals are crucial for the economy. They build businesses,
they make investments, they create jobs. And when they relocate, everything relocates with them.
They sell their house, they sell their assets. This pushes prices lower, of course. Asset
managers lose capital that they were managing for them. Digital businesses change country.
Even staff can get fired or the company will hire new staff in the new country. It's the same
net result. And remember, all those staff earned a wage. They paid taxes. They spent money into the
local economy. That money went to more staff in other businesses in the local economy,
which means more employment scarring. It's a vicious cycle downwards. It's a disaster
for the country. Domestic startups lose capital. Universities lose capital. Private
contributions decline. Charities lose big backers. So what I'm saying here is a heavy government
and smaller entrepreneurial economy isn't good for society. Now I'm not saying the economy
is going to collapse overnight, of course, but it does experience a gradual erosion
that compounds over years. Take Argentina, for example. In the early 20th century,
Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Its GDP per capita was top 10 globally.
Yes, top 10. And this one often surprises people, but actually they had huge immigration
from Europe. Yes, people from Europe actually emigrated from Europe and immigrated into
Argentina for the high living standards. But over decades, similar policies came in
and as a result, they got chronic high inflation, including hyperinflation in sort of 89 to 90,
currency controls, capital flight, declining real wages, IMF bailouts, gradual loss of economic
standing. What am I saying? They became poor as a country. So they went from very, very rich.
That's where the saying came from as rich as an Argentinian and they became very, very poor.
So what a surprise that all these people said why it can't be turned around. And then the new
president Javier Millay came in and started doing these small policies like, sorry, I said small
policies. I meant to say new policies such as small government, tight fiscal discipline, deregulation,
tax reforms to cut down on 20 different taxes, and bingo, Argentina is turning itself around.
What a mystery. No, ladies and gentlemen, this isn't rocket science and neither are any of my free
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Thanks for watching. Take care. God bless.