Going in the wrong direction:
Indiana ranks 12th in the nation for “business friendly” tax systems, according to the 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index released by the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation. Indiana ranked 11th in the 2007 index.
Twelfth ain’t bad, though. None of the states around us are in the top 10, and Ohio is in the bottom 10 at 46th. According to the full report, Illinois is 28th, Michigan is 29th, and Kentucky is 36th. So we should be pretty competitive, although there is probably a lot more we could do. Become more gay-marriage friendly. Ban smoking statewide. Make government-funded preschool mandatory. Make the state soup official.
Our worst ranking is 22nd for the corporate rate, if somebody is looking for a target of opportunity to take us back in the right direction.
October 15, 2007 at 9:03 am
Its pretty widely specualted that the property tax crisis is responsible for our slip in rank from 11 to 12, business don’t like this kind of uncertainty
October 15, 2007 at 11:25 am
By my count, 7 of the top ten “business friendly” states have either in place or have enacted state-wide smoking restrictions. Apparently having one doesn’t seem to be deemed to be as “business unfriendly” as you would have us believe.
Of course, to be concerned about that is to place being on the top of the list as the Holy Grail, as it apparently is for Matt Kelty and you. If it is, you need to be in Wyoming. I personally wouln’t trade a city block of Fort Wayne for the whole state of Wyoming.