[AlotOfReading]

Curiously, other people are always quick to point out how California is a very difficult place to operate a company in when the focus is on companies "fleeing" to low tax states like Texas.

I'd imagine it is easier to start a tech venture in the valley than Italy, but that's just because there's an established ecosystem for it and you're not blazing new ground. The various particularities of government are relatively insignificant in comparison. That's why you can have similarly vibrant startup scenes under political environments as different as the US, China, and Israel.