hi, i'm a sole proprietor/founder in Austria and i earn many many multiples of what i'd earn as an employee, despite 'predatory income tax'.…

hi, i'm a sole proprietor/founder in Austria and i earn many many multiples of what i'd earn as an employee, despite "predatory income tax". in fact, i opt out of the many tax optimizations i could use because i like having good schools and as high a standard of living as possible for everyone. the great thing about the EU is that you can just live under any tax regime you like in any of the 27 member states. it's all about trade offs. if poland works for you, fantastic! go build there. and if i may add one more thing: if the CEO of a startup, especially pre-revenue, lives "barely any better than a regular employee" then the system works as intended. fact of the matter is most startups are bad. you are not special because you are trying out a shit idea and fail. but i'll happily pay taxes so you can try your shit idea, fail, and can still live. In Austria, a CEO of a startup lives barely any better than a regular employed developer A former boss of mine (an exited founder) wanted to buy a new desk Instead of going to IKEA, she went to a site for used furniture and searched for one there, because it was much cheaper For …

Source: Jeremy Howard (X) | 2026-05-04