it's $9M used to pay the US Government as your startup requires all the infrastructure, legal framework and military protection provided to get where it is (feel free to move your startup to Somalia, where I hear the taxes are close to zero).
I think a few here would feel free to move their startups to -- Germany, with less than 1/3rd of the US' military expenses per capita [0] -- or Hong Kong, where mass transit is privatized [1] -- or Canada, where the number of lawyers per capita is 1/15th that of the US [2]. I dare say some have a positive view of all three of these statistics, despite them being technically "more Somalia-like". Not to say (not at all!) that militaries, infrastructure, and legal systems are useless and shouldn't be funded; but perhaps that they can be less funded (by taxpayers) with a net social benefit.
And that the statement "we should pay more to government agencies for the benefit of startups" is not immediately obvious.
I think a few here would feel free to move their startups to -- Germany, with less than 1/3rd of the US' military expenses per capita [0] -- or Hong Kong, where mass transit is privatized [1] -- or Canada, where the number of lawyers per capita is 1/15th that of the US [2]. I dare say some have a positive view of all three of these statistics, despite them being technically "more Somalia-like". Not to say (not at all!) that militaries, infrastructure, and legal systems are useless and shouldn't be funded; but perhaps that they can be less funded (by taxpayers) with a net social benefit.
And that the statement "we should pay more to government agencies for the benefit of startups" is not immediately obvious.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTR
[2] https://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/olin_center/papers/pdf/...