A Better Future
Entrepreneurship is all about building a better future. It‘s seeing what is and thinking about how it can be better. If you look around where you are currently sitting, there is nothing that wasn‘t created by an entrepreneur that did say to themselves, “I can make the world a better place.”
When you really think about it, entrepreneurs are at the pointy end of civilization. They are the ones that don‘t just dream but put everything on the line to bring those dreams into reality. Entrepreneurs are the driving force that propels progress forward in society.
When a government adopts policies that stifle entrepreneurship then they are ultimately retarding the growth of society. Many western governments have embraced a socialist agenda that is effectively creating an imbalance in the risk vs. reward ratio where the reward is flowing to government rather than the entrepreneur. This completely disenfranchises the entrepreneur and leaves many of them wondering why they should take any risk if there are no longer the reward.
In my own country of Australia, the government is about to pass a number of draconian laws that increases capital gains tax to the point where Australia is no longer globally competitive. They are also changing the tax rate for trusts to a minimum of 30%. Entrepreneurs often use trusts to help offset some of their risk by splitting any income with their partner.
These types of policies force founders to leave their country and start their businesses in a place that rewards them. New Zealand, Singapore, Dubai and even the USA all have much friendlier capital gains tax laws compared to Australia. The end result is a max exodus of entrepreneurial talent that builds the nation‘s wealth, creates jobs and moves society forward.
Governments need to wake up and clear the way for founders to create great businesses that produce the future wealth of the nation. This means, supporting them with capital, reducing red tape and allowing the ones that took the risk to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
It reminds me of the children‘s story about the “Little Red Hen”. The hen asked the other farm animals for help to grow the wheat, harvest it, grind it into flour, make the bread dough and finally bake it. None of them would help but all of them wanted a slice of bread. The Little Red Hen said, “No” the bread is mine and you shall now have any.
This doesn‘t sound like a very egalitarian farm where everyone should get a share of the Hens efforts but the question that should be asked is, “Why should they?” The other animals didn‘t do anything to bake the bread so why should they get to eat any?
I remember reading this story when I was a child and yet, here we are with many western governments thinking they can just take what they didn‘t contribute. I have a message for the Australian government, “What are you going to have for lunch if all the Little Red Hens leave the farm?”