In Norway, you have to pay net worth tax of 1% of your assets in excess of ~$200,000. So if you own 2 million of stock in an unlisted company, you are on the ho

In Norway, you have to pay net worth tax of 1% of your assets in excess of ~$200,000. So if you own 2 million of stock in an unlisted company, you are on the hook for $20,000 in additional taxes every year. Most successful entrepeneurs here have to sell stock every year just to pay their tax bill. Company profits tax of 27%, capital gains tax of 28% and personal income tax of ~35% ensures that you even in the best case get to keep <50% of the profits your company makes, even before the annual net worth tax comes into play. Some successful businessmen in cyclic businesses here have emigrated purely because paying the full tax every year would deplete their companies' rainy day buffers. (We also have a 25% VAT on all consumer purchases, including "compulsory" products purchased from the state such as the national broadcasting license or local government residential parking permits). And still you read in the newspaper every other week of someone wanting to create the "new Silicon Valley" in some Norwegian city. It's delusional; the incentives are completely wrong.