Taxes are incentivizing or disincentivizing, so policy should mirror what you want out of your economy. If the goal is not to have people create startups, there you have it.
That only makes sense if you think the only reason anyone ever founds a business is to sell it to someone else...
If anything, it means that startups are more likely to stick around and turn into real businesses rather than being bought by salesforce and disappearing into corporate oblivion
Also: >Why would a person who founded a startup, and put countless unpaid hours into building it, then have to pay for the sale as if it were employee income?
Is the same as: Why would a person who created his career, and put countless of unpaid hours into building it, then have to pay for the sale of his knowledge and skill?
I would expect the incentive is the massive payout (even after tax).
If a startup founder would be better off as an employee because they have to pay the same amount of tax then it sounds like it was a bad idea to begin with.
Getting your income through a corporation instead of as a salaried employee is not inherently more valuable for society. We don’t want more startups for the sake of having more startups!
Saying that working for existing corporations is more valuable to society underestimates the frequent and obvious value to society of the one-in-100 startup which creates new avenues of wealth for whole sectors of society. A dynamic polity should emphasize that and create more incentives for it - not even for the good of the individuals who do it, but for its own survival.
Oh, just don’t mention that to the authorities because they will make you pay for breaching their working hours act. How dare you have a dream and a drive. Get back in line.
Authorities in Germany don’t care. They are the Beamte, the have a special legal status, barely removable from their positions and with a guaranteed high pension. There are two classes of people in Germany: Beamte and everyone else.