“Simply put, this means that dividends, interest, and rent minus costs, are taxed annually,” van Rijg says of the real yield. The Cabinet and the House of Representatives have wanted to tax actual capital income for some time (instead of the “phantom” constant return in the old savings tax), but Tax and Customs Administration can only handle that from 2025. So the new tax would not be a tax Not only capital gains, but also a tax on “capital growth”: if the value of shares or real estate increases, such capital gains are also taxed. The impairment is actually deductible.

“Citizens are willing to pay taxes on what they already enjoy,” says van Rig. That is why it is believed that people who have money in investments, for example, would be willing to pay a price based on what they earned from it. The problem with the savings tax was that for savers it had little to do with the actual return they made on their savings.

In the new system, “the skeleton of Square 3 remains intact,” van Rijg says of the “Capital Fund”. The fact that there will be a capital gains tax means that Treasury income will become more dependent on the stock market and economic developments. A good stock market year means more shares are valued, so taxes will be paid from 2025. That means “as a country you can estimate them with a little less accuracy,” van Rig admits. But he believes this effect will be limited.

Also listen to the podcast A matter of cents About the savings tax scandal: