The tax situation looks better, but I'm wondering if someone with actual experience running a business in both countries could give me some insight.
The advantages of Canada are:
- free health care, especially important for self-employed
- retirement plan easier to contribute for self-employed
- easier tax preparation (no AMT, no IRS 20 rules, etc.) resulting in lower overall taxes for self-employed with deductions
- cheaper to hire educated people
- no federal deficit, so no looming financial crisis
- virtually no police shootings, SWATing, executions
- French/English divide is not an issue outside of Quebec
- good to excellent public schools, few discipline problems
- no global income reporting.
- no Selective Service for you or your kids
- Toronto is an interesting combination of finance/software/mfg, great place for robotics, makers, etc.
- Canadian Tire money can really add up!
- if you're middle class, it's good to be the king!
Advantages of USA are:
- much easier/possible to get venture investment
- Silicon Valley
- often the dollar is higher, though I'm not sure why
- if you like guns or are far rightwing, welcome home
- good place to practise trauma medicine/prosthetics
- if you're the 1%, it's good to be the king.
Same in both countries:
- 401k and RRSP are very similar
- same ACH network
- same timezones.
- same urban housing prices
- same culture, but the USA has guns and Canada has politeness.
Huh? Canada's debt-to-GDP is as bad as the US.
Also, Canada has much higher household debt. It's well past 150% now.
Overall, I don't believe Canada offers anything positive w.r.t. to startup and business. The local market is too small and your primary market and customers most likely will be in USA. Though salaries are lower in Canada, the regulatory and taxation cost is very high specially if you are going to have employees and office.
Most Canadian companies, based on my experience in Eastern Canada, form a US subsidiary with mailing address typically in New Hampshire. Most of the investors in early stage companies are "old" money so the threshold to raise any angel/seed money will be much higher specially for businesses investors may not understand and there is too much focus on financials rather than opportunity. There is scarcity of tech-success founders supporting the local startup scenes, I saw more of them in Bay area instead of Toronto/Ottawa.
I don't know how things have changed in last 10 years in Canada, may be a tech bubble is bubbling there too right now. But when I last tried to start a company in Toronto, 12 years ago, I didn't have any positive experience, in the end I landed up moving to US permanently.