It’s time to reward entrepreneurs
Living in a big city, I mean proper metropolis, one gets to the chance to come across various sorts. Hard working ones, be they locals or from other parts of the world, sneaky ones, the ones that just about make the ends meet, as well as the ones who complain that their gold bathroom taps are not being properly polished.
Among all groups mentioned there are some specific individuals that despite where the life’s adventures may have placed them see it as temporary and view the world around them as an opportunity to make money in everything. Providing that this ‘seeing of opportunity’ is supposed to be anything and in any way that is considered a virtue and acceptable within the law of the land, these opportunists were and still are the driving force that led societies to develop, invent and expand. They take upon themselves a burden not easy to carry. For a start, they view the world from a different perspective, very often resulting being misunderstood, talked down and isolated. But, they don’t give in to challenges nor give up on their dream. On the other hand, reality is that although rewards are very high for the few that persevere, the failure rate is very high too.
Throughout our upbringing we are told that we should be hardworking and relentless. Later at university and various training courses we were told, now tell others, not to give up but continue in the quest for knowledge and skills improvement. Isn’t the case that most of us declare that those that face highest risks, relentless ones, those brave enough to take on challenges, and so on, deserve care, support and help from the rest of us that chose not to place ourselves on the front facing life’s challenges, nor have set ourselves to push forward social frontiers?
If all that applies to the society as a whole why the same can’t apply to entrepreneurs too? It seems to me that they also want to learn and improve their skills. In fact, in the process of this selfishness there are numerous others that equally benefit; directly through employment and indirectly through the use of public services. Therefore, for our own sake we should explore for opportunities that will make entrepreneur’s life happier and their efforts easier. Happier lives and less complicated procedures will create more chances for testing and trying out new ideas and push forward social frontiers. For those lucky few and others around them, no matter where they come from geographically and/or socially, eventual success will open a new world of opportunities and status.
Current societies broadly present in Europe expect from the better ones, actually demand, more handouts to reward those of inferior abilities and willingness to become better. It is now a confirmed link between number of entrepreneurs and country well-being, it’s a classic “the more, the better!” situation. If this the case, which it is, why would we want to make their life harder? Strange enough this article coincides with a routing of some insane ideas, from higher taxes to nationalization of enterprises, in the form of Jeremy Corbyn. It is truly encouraging that the voters in United Kingdom, in this moment of history, could lead the way for revival of societies that encourage and support entrepreneurship after a long period of political ideology that considered it a necessary evil that should be closely controlled. In this historic moment newly voted prime-minister should show strong leadership in not just breaking away from EU technicalities but also ideology. Let’s hope that the blow that Jeremy Corbyn dealt to himself and his party will be used by his opponent with concrete measures that will result in more relaxed business environment overall and especially for smaller firms and start-ups.
However, there is a genuine chance for the UK to go even further; to take a lead in creating a truly entrepreneur friendly environment. First and foremost it should stop penalising successful ones! In other words, should bring tax changes that instead penalising they will be rewarded. Surely, we were all encouraged to get better with time with promises of handsome rewards; sweets, candies, pocket money, better grades, and so on. Actually, it is a divine promise too; as one does and gets better, better place is promised in the after-life! Why then only those that are truly committed to getting better, the ones who are ready to take risks and face challenges on their own, the more successful they are the higher taxes they must pay? In the contrary, progressive tax rates should be replaced with e regressive one! In other words, entrepreneurs should not pay more taxes as they get better but less. The better they get prior to tax filing, the better they reap after! In fact it should not be stopped with this much; smaller firms and other start-ups should be released of taxes altogether beyond a certain profit level!
Authorities are there to make bold decision which will result in more liquid economic activity, where businesses and individuals behind them are more willing to take on risks than in some other jurisdiction. In this time of such a competition in providing better infrastructure, hard and soft, it is crucial that all decisions will have in mind its effect that they will have in entrepreneurial community. It is impossible to maintain current rate of public spending in social care by giving more. This ‘giving more’ so far is being financed in one way only; tax increases for successful and/or better ones. Instead, rewarding the better and setting examples of them is the only proven method that will help and encourage less able and less willing ones to give it a try. This idea of incentivising the less able ones to get better and encouraging those less willing to try is what I mean by ‘more liquid economy’; an impulse that will bring more actors in the game without having the successful paying for it. It is about time that better ones feel proud of what they have achieved, whatever that may be; money, skills, abilities, without giving a thought that they may be misunderstood, stigmatized or talked down.