There comes a moment in every entrepreneur’s life when the numbers stop making sense.
You worked for it.
You built it.
You took the risk.
You put everything on the line.

And then you finally look at your company profit and your personal bank account and think:

“Where the hell did the money go?”

Let me show you exactly where it went.
Not in theory.
Not in abstract.
In cold, unforgiving arithmetic.

This is the part that makes business owners furious.
And it should.

The UK Taxes Entrepreneurs Like We’re The Problem

There is a public myth that the UK is “moderate tax.”
It isn’t.

For employees, maybe.
For business owners? Absolutely not.

Once you run a limited company and try to take money out of it, you quickly discover the truth:

The UK tax system crushes small business owners with layered, compounding taxes.

You don’t pay tax once.
You pay it repeatedly, on the same pot of money, through different mechanisms.

Let me lay it out so clearly that you can never unsee it.

Scenario 1: Your Company Makes £100,000 Profit - You Take It Out as Salary.

This is the most straightforward method on paper, and the most brutal in practice.

Step 1: Corporation Tax

25 percent gone instantly.

£100,000 × 25 percent = £25,000

Left in the company: £75,000

Already, HMRC takes a quarter.

Step 2: Employer National Insurance

A 13.8 percent “stealth tax” that the government pretends is paid by the company.
But it is your money.
It’s your profit being drained before it touches your pocket.

After employer NI is accounted for, the actual salary you can receive is £65,900.

Employer NI transferred to HMRC: £9,100

Step 3: Income Tax (40 percent higher rate)

£65,900 × 40 percent = £26,360

Step 4: Employee National Insurance

8 percent and 2 percent bands. Total: £3,329

Step 5: Your Real Take-Home

£65,900
minus £26,360
minus £3,329

You receive: £36,211

Total Government Take

Corporation tax: £25,000
Employer NI: £9,100
Income tax: £26,360
Employee NI: £3,329

HMRC gets: £63,789

You get: £36,211

You did all the work.
The government took most of it.

Scenario 2: Extracting the £75,000 as Dividends

This is supposed to be the “tax-efficient” option.

Step 1: Corporation Tax Still Takes £25,000

Step 2: Higher Rate Dividend Tax (33.75 percent)

£75,000 × 33.75 percent = £25,312

What You Keep

£75,000 – £25,312 = £49,688

Total Tax Paid

Corporation tax: £25,000
Dividend tax: £25,312

HMRC gets: £50,312

You get: £49,688

This is the better option.
And even here, the government takes more than you do.

Why This Should Make You Furious

Because when you strip away the polite accounting language, this is what actually happens:

You are taxed before the money reaches your company,

you are taxed when the company earns it,
and you are taxed again when you finally touch it.

Your money gets taxed at every stage of existence.

Corporation tax hits first.
Employer NI hits before you’re paid.
Employee NI hits as you're paid.
Income tax hits at the same time.
Dividend tax hits if you choose the “efficient” route instead.

Layered.
Stacked.
Relentless.

This isn’t a system designed for entrepreneurs.
It’s a system designed to extract maximum revenue from anyone who tries to build something of their own.

Who Has It Better? Almost Everyone.

Here’s how much of your £100k profit you keep in other countries:

• Singapore: 78 to 85 percent
• Hong Kong: 82 to 90 percent
• UAE: 100 percent
• Switzerland: 70 to 80 percent
• Estonia: 80 percent (only taxed when distributed)
• Ireland: 60 to 67 percent
• Cyprus: 75 percent+
• Portugal NHR: around 70 percent

UK?
You keep 36 percent with salary
Or 49 percent with dividends

There’s no version where the UK looks good.

The Problem Isn’t That We Pay Tax

The Problem Is That We Pay Tax Three Times

Other countries pick a system.
They choose one clear, logical approach.

The UK?
It stacks them:

1. Corporation tax
2. Employer NIC
3. Employee NIC
4. Income tax
5. Dividend tax

It’s a multi-layer trap disguised as “fairness.”

And Yet We Still Build

This is the part that inspires me.

Despite all this, entrepreneurs keep going.

We build brands, products, teams, communities.
We take risks the system will never acknowledge.
We push through barriers that politicians will never understand.

And somehow, despite being penalised every step of the way, we keep building.

Maybe that’s our superpower.
Or maybe the system just hasn’t figured out how to kill our resolve yet.

Either way, I think it’s time we talk about this openly.

Because the worst thing we can do is stay silent while the system drains more from the people who drive the economy than it ever returns.