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Comment by dosinga | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, but I think the point is that this applicable on unrealized capital gains too. So if I start a company in Norway, raise a bunch of money and then move to the US because the company wants to have a presence there, I now have to pay the tax on the basis of the money raised; It's quite common for a reasonable successful founder to be worth millions on paper while having no cash.

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On the other hand, not taxing unrealized capital gains on exit would effectively create a loophole by which it would be possible to avoid taxation simply by moving to a tax haven for a while and realize the gains there.

It is and the effect is immediate and destructive to any value creation in startups. It basically forces companies to leave before raising any serious money or founders will end up with tax bills that have to be paid out of investment money

Or just staying in the country, thereby bolstering their economy. Which is almost certainly the end goal. I mean, it kind of sucks if these countries provide the tools to create successful businesses and then those businesses just move to cheaper countries. You're kind of getting screwed over.

Countries invest too. In their economy. Providing high quality education at a low price is a huge investment, for example. It's not a good deal if citizens take that and you don't get a return on your investment, i.e. they're not creating innovative companies in your country.

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