A new report from the conservative-leaning Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranks Arizona as the 15th most friendly state to small business. Taxes were a big factor, and one in which Arizona did fairly well. However, showing that taxes are not the only factor contributing to a good business climate, SBEC also ranked states on crime and energy costs, areas where Arizona did not do so well (coming in dead last in crime if not for D.C. being included as a state). Arizona was ranked as having the 10th lowest gasoline tax in the country (since this pays for highways, perhaps this is why roads aren't keeping up with growth?), and the 3rd lowest worker's comp and unemployment insurance costs. Per capita state and local government spending is the 8th lowest in the country. So if I am reading this report right, if Arizona wants to improve its business climate, we do not need to focus much more on low taxes. We need to cut energy costs and cut crime, and that helps everyone living here, whether they own a business or not.
Read the full report here.
(And then there is that whole education thing, which this report did not even mention, but along with our low government spending, Education Week ranks Arizona 49th in the U.S. in per pupil funding of K-12 education)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
"Smart" states will end up doing better than "low tax" states. Entrepreneurs and knowledge workers prefer not to live in Arizona.
The Tax Foundation looks at a broader range of taxes. On its 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index, AZ had the 25th-lowest business taxes--bested by Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.
Our overall state and local tax burden was the 19th-lowest in the country, with AZ having higher taxes than Nevada, New Mexico and Texas.
Also, in some relevant sense, we are not just competing against other states, but against low-tax business locales worldwide, such as Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, et al.
Taxes aren't everything. Some companies will move to AZ because the Grand Canyon is here, or because the CEO's mom lives here. But among policy factors, taxes are huge.
Post a Comment