Location, Location, Location for Business Tax Climate

Blog content provided by Barbara Weltman, Publisher of Big Ideas for Small Business ®

The Tax Foundation has released its annual survey of the 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index. The key points that the index demonstrates is that “taxes matter to business,” affecting business decisions, job creation, plant location, and more, and states do not enact tax increases or decreases in a vacuum (entrepreneurial states can lure businesses from other states). According to the survey, “Good state tax systems levy low, flat rates on the broadest bases possible, and they treat all taxpayers the same.”

The 10 states with the most favorable business tax climates for 2010 (and their 2009 status in parenthesis) are:

1. South Dakota (2)
2. Wyoming (1)
3. Alaska (4)
4. Nevada (3)
5. Florida (5)
6. Montana (6)
7. New Hampshire (7)
8. Delaware (10)
9. Washington (12)
10. Utah (11)

The bottom 10 states with the least favorable business tax climates for 2010 (and their 2009 status in parenthesis) are:

• 50. New Jersey (50)
• 49. New York (49)
• 48. California (48)
• 47. Ohio (47)
• 46. Iowa (44)
• 45. Maryland (45)
• 44. Rhode Island (46)
• 43. Minnesota (41)
• 42. Wisconsin (38)
• 41. Vermont (43)

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