“Meten is weten.” (Measuring is knowing)
– Dutch proverb
Taxing Illusions
To glimpse the impending future of socialism and its relentless hunger for your savings, consider the Netherlands rather than the pages of history.
On February 12, 2026, the Dutch House of Representatives approved the Actual Return in Box 3 Act (Wet werkelijk rendement box 3). While framed as a necessary correction to an unconstitutional tax system highlighted by the Dutch Supreme Court in 2021, it is essentially a financial declaration of war on individual investors.
Rather than restoring a fair taxation model post-ruling, the Hague has opted for a more predatory system. This legislation replaces an earlier tax based on assumed returns with a grasping mechanism that treats the volatility of your investments as a state revenue source.
Such overreach overlooks the essential principles of private property, effectively taxing success before it’s even realized. It marks a troubling transition, where the fruits of personal labor and risk are diverted into a communal fund for bureaucratic redistribution.
Beginning January 1, 2028, the Dutch government intends to impose a flat tax rate of 36 percent on the actual returns from savings and investments. However, these “actual returns” encompass not just the cash you receive but also unrealized capital gains, meaning you’ll be taxed on the increased value of your stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrency—even if they remain unsold.
This forces individuals to pay taxes on profits that may not materialize, effectively robbing the middle class of its financial future.
Changing the Rules
A well-known story recounted in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country tells of Dutch workers using their wooden shoes, called sabots, to disrupt the looms of industrial machinery. This act of sabotage is echoed in the current actions of the Dutch government, which is throwing its own proverbial sabot into the gears of economic growth.
By taxing hypothetical gains—money that doesn’t exist yet—they risk grinding wealth accumulation to a halt. For instance, if your investment portfolio appreciates by €100,000, you would owe €36,000 in taxes by the end of the year. Lacking sufficient cash on hand means you might have to liquidate assets to settle your tax bill.
Those in the U.S. might feel fortunate, thinking this doesn’t apply to them. However, during the 2024 campaign, Kamala Harris openly expressed support for similar billionaire minimum taxes. Her proposal aimed at individuals worth over $100 million, suggesting a 25 percent tax on unrealized gains.
While targeting billionaires resonates with a populist ‘tax the rich’ narrative, the Dutch model reveals how swiftly these restrictions can extend to the middle class as government needs evolve. Initially aimed at the ultra-wealthy, such taxation inevitably trickles down to those who earn more modest incomes.
The underlying logic is the same: the state claiming a stake in your success before you’ve capitalized on it, marking a shift from taxing income to taxing existence itself.
Wealth Surveillance
The most alarming aspect isn’t just the 36 percent tax itself; it’s the extensive surveillance required for enforcement. To impose taxes on unrealized gains, the government must monitor the value of everything you own.
This extends beyond your brokerage account to include any appreciating assets. From a pre-1965 stash of silver coins to your child’s toys or a family heirloom necklace, all must be appraised and reported for taxation. Failure to do so invites charges of tax evasion, effectively transferring ownership of your assets to the state.
When required to provide annual evaluations of your wealth to calculate potential tax obligations, a de facto wealth registry emerges. Once the government has this list, the leap from taxation to asset forfeiture becomes alarmingly small.
Even mistakenly neglecting to report a seemingly trivial item can turn you from a hobbyist into a criminal.
Concerning financial markets, the Actual Return in Box 3 Act is poised to create significant disruption. If individuals must sell off portions of their investments annually to cover taxes on the remainder, such a policy generates artificial selling pressure.
In the event of a market downturn, while the bill suggests that losses can be carried forward, this does little to ease immediate financial burdens like mortgage payments. It reflects a one-sided approach where the state claims your gains but only makes a note of your losses for the future.
The Dutch Model for Global Seizure
This all fits into a larger agenda of “you will own nothing,” playing out in real-time. By taxing anticipated wealth rather than realized earnings, the government effectively hinders the potential independence of private capital from state control.
The Dutch are actively sabotaging their economic engine. Observers in the United States ought to take note; local socialists, such as Gavin Newsom and AOC, are eagerly prepared to implement similar strategies.
This represents a grand confiscation, masked as a fiscal adjustment. When the state begins taxing the potential of an asset rather than its actualized value, it fundamentally transforms private property into a state-managed lease.
In this model, you don’t genuinely own your investments or property; you manage them on behalf of an uninvited partner demanding an annual cash dividend, irrespective of your actual earnings. It constitutes ultimate sabotage against the middle class.
The principle behind Box 3, and its anticipation for similar legislation in other regions, rests on the hope that citizens will remain oblivious to these changes until it’s too late. By the time families realize their retirement accounts and personal assets are being exploited to alleviate official deficits, the wealth registry will be fortified.
The opportunity to accumulate wealth for personal growth will diminish, devolving into a criminalized system of state dependency. Once the taxman shifts his focus from our incomes to our very existence, we’re not merely paying a tax; we’re relinquishing our vision of a secure future.
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Sincerely,
MN Gordon
for Economic Prism
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