&gt; why try to start a business when if you succeed, you won&#x27;t keep that much of the winnings?<p>I&#x27;d call $9.9 million or less a year pretty big &quot;winnings&quot; without hitting these tax thresholds. Plus the way tax brackets work mean you get a pretty big payday on the money below the top most threshold.<p>It is completely unrealistic to claim that people won&#x27;t start businesses because any personal profits they make over $10mil&#x2F;year will be taxed too highly. It is completely out of touch with the financial position that most normal people are in.