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The article praises the Welfare State as the major stimulus for the startup environment, but then mentions that companies intend to leave Sweden... because of t
by null_object 5y ago
The article praises the Welfare State as the major stimulus for the startup environment, but then mentions that companies intend to leave Sweden... because of the high tax rate?
It's an interesting paradox and highlights the way that VCs want to suck as much value out of an economy as they possibly can, without the willingness to contribute back to it proportionately.
- durnygbur 5y agoThe businesses aren't any more ethical in welfare states. Welfare states set the financial burden on individuals - the contributions on employment contracts, dividend and capital gains taxes there are obnoxiously enourmous. An individual there basically gets a job to take a mortgage and that's it regarding life aspirations.
- fsloth 5y ago"An individual there basically gets a job to take a mortgage and that's it regarding life aspirations." Doesn't that describe most if not all economies that have middle class? Private mortgage was considered a great way to increase national wealth in "rich" post-WW2 economies. And so it became part of "the expected economic life path of the middle-class employee". Most people who are employed work to satisfy basic economic needs: 1. house 2. food 3. health and after that 4. leisure. Some even turn to 5. investment at some point. So I'm not sure what you are trying to say? Maybe expand/rephraze it a little bit?
- Milner08 5y agoFound the American... You're kidding yourself if you think that's it for life aspirations. Or if you think the taxes are the end of the world. I am sure most people in 'welfare states' would agree that they would rather that than the American system.
- durnygbur 5y agoI'm not American, barely ever been in America even...
- cycomanic 5y agoYou base your assertion on what evidence? Do you know what the capital gains tax is in Sweden? I encourage you to look up the ISK accounts. Also regarding getting a job to take a mortgage for life aspirations, the nordic countries have actually much more social mobility than most other countries in the world.
- theelous3 5y agoAs opposed to americans who... do exactly what differently?
- throwawaylinux 5y agoI wouldn't use the word ethical, or give agency to a legal entity. It's people who own and run businesses, and it's not unethical for people to want to put themselves in a better financial situation rather than a worse one. Many who would call a business unethical for moving somewhere with a more favorable regulatory environment are entirely in favor of economic migrants moving to welfare states to be better off. They might argue the business should pay back the benefits it got from the welfare state, but would probably bristle at the suggestion that the migrants were unethical for wanting to benefit without paying into it. In the end it's the same thing really, human nature. Nothing about a business generates any kind of ethics or generosity beyond what people have.
- galfarragem 5y agoThe Welfare State may help startups to born but may help them to fade also. Few startups flourish in Europe. So many seeds, so few flowers.
- theelous3 5y agoFew startups flourish anywhere. Or are you saying that all things being equal, a startup in europe has a lower chance of succeeding long term than in the us? Any data to back this claim?
- lmm 5y agoThere's a distinct lack of mega-successes coming out of Europe.
- karl-j 5y agoFrom the article the difference doesn’t seem that huge: Stockholm - 0.8 unicorns per 100,000 Silicon Valley - 1.4 unicorns per 100,000
- lovemenot 5y agoUnicorn is just a threshold. Of those in both regions that crossed it, how many went through the next, then the next order of magnitude?
- cinntaile 5y agoThat's almost double in SV, that's pretty huge.
- theelous3 5y agoGiven the differences in available capital and labour forces, reads more like stockholm is performing like an order of magnitude better. I'd also be interested in seeing long term outcomes. I'd wager stockholms is stronger.
- alkonaut 5y agoCorporate tax rates are the same as other countries in Western Europe, and lower than the US. Income taxes and payroll taxes are (significantly) higher though. Companies don’t need to leave the country but may want to hire top talent elsewhere if they need to keep taxes low. For me as a Swede, keeping as little as half of my gross pay isn’t a big issue since I’m not required to pay for my kids higher education (or any education for that matter), nor do I need to save up a lot for retirement or future illness. But I can understand someone who wants to go to Sweden for a 5 year stint and needs to aggregate as much as possible because their kids will go to expensive schools etc. Moving to a high-tax high social security labor market can seem like a one way street in that regard.
- Strum355 5y ago> Corporate tax rates are the same as other countries in Western Europe Except for Ireland with its 12.5%
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hogFeast 5y ago"12.5%"...there is relatively little evidence that tech companies are paying anything close to this rate (yes, after the loopholes were closed...still plenty of loopholes left).
- CRConrad 5y agoMakes you feel the solution to the Brexit-induced problem with the Northern Ireland border is to kick Ireland out (if they don't shape up ASAP).
- fennecfoxen 5y agoWhy stop there? Kick out Poland and Belarus for being undemocratic, kick out the rest of Eastern Europe for being homophobic, and then kick out Greece and Italy for the unsustainable deficits — maybe Spain and Portugal, by that point, too.
- wutwutwutwut 5y ago> VCs Same applies to most companies, right?
- csomar 5y ago> It's an interesting paradox and highlights the way that VCs want to suck as much value out of an economy as they possibly can, without the willingness to contribute back to it proportionately. Did you just define arbitrage?