Not really. It depends on a number of factors, which I'll try to recall and ballpark here. For reference, I've lived and done business in both countries as a small business. Though, I've very much an American perspective.

As a small business in the U.S., I'm registered as an LLC, but file for taxes as a sole-proprietor. That means that all business income is pass through and considered personal income. Though, income brackets as graduated, much of my income falls into the 25% tax bracket. Next, since I make less than the FICA tax ceiling of $118,500, my entire income is subject to FICA (payroll) tax, so I pay an additional 15.3%. If you work for someone else, you pay half that, but that's the joy of being self employed. After that, my state income tax rate is 4.9%. Yes, it's graduated, but not by much. Finally, I have a state gross-receipts tax of 7%, but I typically offload that onto my customers. Adding that all together, I pay 45.2% of my business income on tax, which is everything minus business expenses. If I count the gross receipts tax, this would be 52.2%. Also, since I'm self-employed, I have to pay for my own health insurance. Let's just say that the health care market place isn't all that we hoped. I did receive a discount this year, but I had been paying $500/month or $6000 a year. Yes, there is cheaper health insurance, but as someone who has had complicated dealings with hospitals in the past, I refuse to use an HMO and will always use a PPO. Do note, health insurance premiums are not tax deductible and until we meet our yearly deductible, we pay 100% of the expenses. Generally, I budget $8000/year for health insurance premiums and expenses.

In Norway, business structures are slightly different, but the closest thing to a sole-propietorship is an enkeltpersonforetak. I don't believe you get quite the same benefit as an LLC sole-propietorship in the U.S., but they're similar for tax purposes because its also considered a pass-through entity. Now, I'm not completely up to date on the current tax situation. Looking at my current tax card, it says that I would pay 47%, but I don't currently live there and my taxes were messed up enough where I required an accountant. When I was living there, my tax rate was somewhere between 34-36%. However, that included a few percent tax discount because I was a skilled, technical worker who just moved to Norway and was in my first two years of work. Next, I'm required to pay VAT on my contracts, which is 15% of the total. However, like gross receipts tax, I pass this on to my customers. Like the U.S., business expenses are deducted off the total.

Now, certainly, I'm more familiar with American taxes. However, in the last year, concretely, my American tax rate was 45.2% and my Norwegian tax rate was 47%. That's pretty much a wash. However, in Norway, I can access their health system, which saves me $6000/year in premiums and, I'll estimate $1800 in other medical expenses. It depends on the exchange, but I recall paying 200NOK for a doctors visit, which is is about $30. Now, certainly, cost of living in Norway is higher than where I live now. It is lower than living in many major cities. I just checked finn.no and a decent one bedroom runs about 8500NOK, which is a little over $1000/month.

As far as getting access to money, I don't know the investor scene, but I do know something about the grant scene. In Norway, Innovation Norway is supposed to give out good grants with few strings attached. In terms of strings, my impression is that it compared to the SBIR system in the U.S. Though, dear god please, check the details.

Look, the biggest thing about doing business in Norway is that although its western, living and doing business in Norway is very different than the U.S. Until you get a handle on the nuances of janteloven and learn to speak fluent Norwegian, things are tough. You're also living in a small environment, which has advantages and draw backs. However, candidly, Norway is very isolated compared to the U.S. That being said, I do not believe that Norway has a hostile environment to business. To the contrary, if you're making less than $200k/year I contend that it may be cheaper to live in Norway when factoring in taxes and health care. If you're making more than that, then the equation probably shifts with how money can be funneled through an S-corp or C-corp and dividends in the U.S. Though, Norway has its own tax structures that businesses use to shelter money.

Anyway, TLDR, doing business in Norway is fine and, in terms of taxes, not that different than the U.S. Doing business in Norway is done in the Norwegian style. It's not that hard to learn, but do not expect to just show up and operate and usual. Personally, I think it takes 1-2 years to figure out the culture and by year 3 to be fluent enough in language to really start working the system.