is free software in part encouraged by high taxation?

[Sam Liddicott]

open question:

In europe, personal tax can easily approach 50% once fuel and sales 
taxes and income taxes and business taxes are taken into account.

If a business fails the entrepreneurs loses all his money, if it 
succeeds he get's to keep only half of the "winnings".

Combined with all the red-tape and regulation and legal risks of running 
a business, is the risk and tax so finely balanced that many 
entrepreneurs don't bother to commercially exploit their software with 
trade-secrets, tight user agreements and the heavy marketing and 
company-support-ecosystem that must go with such approaches, but instead 
to work on free software providing limited and low-key services and support?

Or, in other words if regulation and tax were lower, how many free 
software authors would never have taken an interest in free software?

Has high taxation and regulation been a big stimulus for free software?

And has it therefore reduced taxable revenue as potential commercial 
opportunities are not exploited in the traditional "commercial software" 
sense (whatever that means)?

Sam