Immediately follows the question of how to pay for it? The opinion article by Zelfa Madhloum in yesterday’s De Tijd sparked a discussion in our weekly team meeting:

The government is subsidizing entrepreneurship by huge amounts through direct subsidies for start-ups, scale-ups and “wished for” industrials. In addition, we at Ernest Partners, for our clients, know the way to federal and regional investment companies that help entrepreneurs realize their ambitions through equity participations or subordinated loans*. But on the other hand, 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗻𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿’𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: dividend tax being increased, corporate tax remaining relatively high, demotivating taxation on option schemes, more and more restrictions on pension accruals and smaller tax schemes being curtailed…

Continuing to nibble away at the taxation of the Belgian entrepreneur will diminish the dynamism of Belgian entrepreneurship, which in the long run will lead to less growth and a more one-sided economy, ultimately leaving the worker with no future in Belgium either. We often read about entrepreneurial Belgians moving and achieving success abroad. 𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱? Surely that cannot be the intention.