> Heh, you know how developing countries "solve" the bureaucracy problem? Through corruption! True and this "grease lubricating the economic engine" does "work

> Heh, you know how developing countries "solve" the bureaucracy problem? Through corruption! True and this "grease lubricating the economic engine" does "work" on a small scale. Problem in an environment where pervasive corruption trumps over "rule of law" for the small honest budding startup up-start -- there's always be someone bigger with better connections and deeper pockets willing to outbid you when it comes to securing local market dominance which will more than pay off their elbowing-you-out ;) Still, you have a point. A western-style rule-of-law environment is generally better for business and worth paying some amount of taxes -- within reason. But there comes a point where the tax and regulation codes do overwhelm small agile but resource-limited up-starts. (Of course there's still many success stories, but they have perhaps much to do with pressing forward relentlessly at the slight risk of perhaps missing one minor regulation or other tax facet and simply inadvertently gambling on the very tiny off-chance of doing so actually blowing them up.) Then if you do decide "taxes and regulations are really kind of too expensive but still just-about worth it for just and fair legal protection", you'll be well advised to keep telling yourself that fairytale where your taxes are directly funding a functioning well-balanced governance system, rather than being simply a metric used NOT even to pay interest on the governments past and present outsized debt excesses --which would be crazy enough, but nowadays your average western "non-corrupt" government will borrow even for interest payments-- BUT simply for said government to reach some kind of good agency rating as a "quality" borrower.