Why do some countries like Belgium and Slovenia have no capital gains tax, while in other countries like France and Denmark it’s over 30%?

23 comments

1. I don’t think anyone expects that one single policy is what makes or breaks the economic success of a country. There’s thousands of policies and circumstances at play.

2. Because we tax everything else to death and back already. And they’re currently talking about introducing a capital gains tax too. Fml.

3. Denmark is trying to redistribute wealth. Not just income. Capital gains tax – which often includes unrealized gains – means those holding loads of stocks and other investments have to contribute to the economy.

   It’s not perfec, and it can be avoided. It punishes more casual investors vs the super rich who can afford to buld the structures to avoid the taxes. But that is the aim.

4. because Eu countries prey on each other. That’s a big discussion. Why having the same currency and freedom of movement but not the same taxes and so on?

5. Yeah for Belgium let’s wait for our new government. We are trying to break a record but capital gain tax is on the discussion board.

6. Slovenia has no capital gain tax if you held said capital for more than 15 years, I believe. So sure, it’s better than most, but still not “no capital gains tax”.

7. High capital gains tax is a good thing actually – it forces the businesses to reinvest the money instead of taking profits.

8. Belgium has a very high income tax. Imagine paying >60% on every incremental euro earned, putting the savings you make into the stock market and also having to pay on your capital gains.

   That being said, I wish European countries would align their tax systems so people can’t “shop around” like living/working in country with low income tax and once they retire move into country with low capital gains and inheritance tax. But I guess it is what it is.

   The real problem is not on a personal tax payer basis, but regarding the differences in corporate tax where some countries have created major loopholes, “foundation” structures or simply don’t tax corporates at all.

9. Yes and no, for long term investment yes. For trading it’s 30% and if all you do is trading and you don’t have a fin corp or bank 70%

10. In Slovenia, the tax is 0%, only if you hold the investment for more than 15 years. If you sell immediately, it is 25%, after 5 years it is 20% and after 10 years it is 15%.

11. One of the things that still surprises me about the EU is taxation. There is a common currency etc but not a common taxation policy.

    In the days when the UK was in the EU my sister did a regular alcohol and cigarettes run to France, where taxes were far lower.

12. Belgium does, in fact, have taxes on capital gains. The rate you pay varies depending on factors from 0% to 50%.

13. In Norway we just go to Switzerland which does not have capital gains tax on stocks, but does have on property value increase depending on canton.

14. Poland did not have capital gain tax until 2004, when the new law (very poorly written, byt that’s the other story) set its rate at 19%.

    If you look at the trend of general economic growth, you see nothing changed around 2004. The main reason is that In general capital gains are not really a significant part of economy.

    Introduction of capital income tax has been, at least in part, motivated with fairness – why particular economic activities should be taxfree, while other are taxed. For example, you can have a day trader, making money on stock market as his de facto job. Why wouldn’t that be taxed if we tax e.g. shop owners?

15. It’s false for France, the capital gain tax is either 30% or your income tax %, you choose which one is better for you. There’s also some reduced taxation on European shares.

16. taxation is a national matter, so there isn’t much eu-wide harmonisation on rules. the EU bust it’s balls to agree to a minimum corp tax a couple of years back…

    it’s a question of history of national politics.

17. I live in Denmark and we’re not anywhere near 42%.

    After your deductions (which is a flexible way of reducing your tax without changing the static percentage), most people pay around 33-36% of their income in tax.

18. The Netherlands don’t have a capital gain tax for local residents. Only foreigners investing in Dutch stocks need to pay it.

    The previous government tried to abolish it altogether, but failed. The political discussion about that did cause Unilever and Shell to become purely British companies rather than mixed British-Dutch.

19. In Slovakia gains from the sale of shares in companies listed on recognized exchanges and ETF are tax exempt if they were held for more than one year.

20. Belgium doesn’t really have much in the way of entrepreneurs or start up culture. A tax would ensure it stays that way. So zero tax is the only way it can persuade its citizens to stay and create businesses they can hand on to family.

21. Different countries get to set different tax policies.

    Exempting capital gains from tax will generally favour a more unequal wealth distribution, since the already-wealthy get to make a large chunk of money tax free, and those who primarily earn wage incomes have to pay higher taxes to offset this.

    But neither policy will break your economy, it’s just a choice about who should fund the government.

22. Not correct. In Belgium you pay a small tax 0.12 to 1.32 percent on purchase and when you sell you again pay that percentage on the final amount (even if no profit is made).
    Also, unfortunately there are drafts of plans in the making to introduce an additional 5 % (was 10 % idea first) of capital gains tax, if those f$ing idiots finally get around to forming a government.
    Once capital gains tax is introduced it will most likely creep up with the years passing and by the time I am to retire its gonne be shit like the rest of socialist Europe.

23. We, Belgians, have a depth over 105% of GDP and a deficit of 4.5+%.

    I’m not sure what qualifies as rich, but government forming has been going on for 7 months now because we need to cut billions in spending.

    Edit: not saying capital gains tax is a swift solution without negative consequences though.