49.5% income tax.

31% corporate tax.

36% tax on your unrealized savings and gains. 

Welcome to the not-so-distant future, my friends. 

Dutch lawmakers have just moved to approve a 36% tax on unrealized gains, which means owing a massive chunk of your paper profits… even if you never sell the asset.

This includes stocks, bonds, and crypto gains… everything you thought you were holding for future growth will be taxed before you even realize the fruits of putting your capital to work. 

Yes, you’re reading this correctly; a tax on gains that aren’t even realized.

…a tax levied on money that exists only on paper…

This is the kind of policy that creates real trouble for investors because it forces them to cash out their positions just to pay a tax bill on gains that haven’t yet been converted into cash.

Sure, "taxation is theft" and all, but this is another level… this is beyond criminal. 

This kind of tax logic reflects exactly how governments view citizens and wealth creation: as “revenue-generating eaters”.

Instead of treating investment and capital growth as the engines that drive innovation, governments are treating them as predictable revenue streams to be harvested on their schedule.

It no longer matters whether you actually sold an asset, realized a gain, or received any cash at all - if the value on paper goes up, they want their cut.

If paying that bill requires you to liquidate assets just to create the cash to satisfy the tax obligation, well, so be it, peasant.

Under this approach, you can work hard, defer consumption, save, invest and watch your portfolio grow… but the government will lay claim to more than a third of it regardless of whether you even cash out your position or not.

This literally removes the incentive for regular people who are making long-term investment decisions.

Insane. 

The idea that you can simply leave money in traditional portfolios and let it compound without interference is becoming a thing of the past…

This is going to reshape the incentives around long-term investing, and from the bottom of my heart, I hope this is the type of news that will move people just like you who are holding capital in crypto, stocks and bonds to think critically about where and how you are preserving everything you worked so hard for.

Look, I know most of you reading this aren’t Dutch (though some of you are). 

The majority of you are Canadian or American, but don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a “Netherlands problem.”

This is a preview of what’s to come.

…and it doesn’t stop at the there...

In some situations, the Netherlands also applies an exit tax on its citizens when they leave the country, effectively treating their departure as a taxable event by deeming their assets as "sold" on paper. 

In other words, if you build wealth inside the system and later decide you’ve had enough and want out, the state can calculate what your gains would have been and issue you a tax bill before you even get a foot out the door.

Governments do not like productive capital walking out the door, and exit tax policies like this make that reality unmistakably clear.

Western governments all read from the same playbook, and once one country normalizes something, the idea enters the mainstream policy conversation everywhere.

I’m not saying this is going to happen tomorrow in Canada or the U.S., but don’t fool yourself, they are already softening you to the idea and will do their best to normalize it before implementing it.

Again, what you’re seeing here won’t be an anomaly: it’s just a glimpse of what becomes possible when governments decide they need more revenue from their tax base (which again, is all you are to them).

When every form of growth is taxed and when YOUR assets become THEIR cash flow, you are no longer building wealth… you are renting your own life from the state.

You’re working, taking risks, allocating capital and delaying gratification… only to watch the upside siphoned off the top before it even materializes.

You’re simply a walking, talking revenue stream inside a system that has decided your financial productivity belongs to them.

If you’re reading this, you already know you have options… and I can guide you through them when you’re ready.

Speak soon,

Mikkel

PS. If you haven’t already reserved your spot for the special Paraguay presentation this Saturday at 10am (Panama time), now is the time to secure your seat. I’m going to discuss how savvy families and investors from our community are already positioning themselves early inside Paraguay’s fastest-growing investment corridor… and how you can, too. It’s free to attend, you just need to register in advance.

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