“We are facing a record tax burden”
6 February 2026 | trend
CEO Christoph Boschan warns that Austria’s economic competitiveness is increasingly under pressure. While there are potential IPO candidates for Vienna, private capital is still insufficiently used to finance innovation. Future-oriented investment requires equity, which could be mobilised by integrating capital markets more strongly into the pension system. As many European countries already systematically harness equity returns for retirement provision, Austria is falling behind. Equity gains are taxed at more than 50 percent – a record level by international standards. “Austria’s growth reserve is lying dormant,” Boschan says, “by finally putting nearly 350 billion euros in bank deposits with little to no interest to good use for investments through the right capital market policy.”
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