> Taxes and employment laws are really not an issue, there are plenty of ways around it, especially if you are a small startup.

Of course there's legal ways for a company to employ somebody not in the US. But many employees at companies don't want to deal with that headache and create any extra work for themselves.

As proof of that, look at how many jobs ask for remote US workers in a list of XYZ random states. They can legally employ anybody they want to in the US, but they don't want to deal with taking the time out figuring out how to deal with hiring somebody from say Alabama or South Dakota if they've never done that before.