newsobserver.com projects - N.C. business climate inches up - Comments

Re: N.C. business climate inches up

PaulTerrell — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:22:16 -0400

Well our business climate will fall further down after the TAX increases that will take place over the next two years.

Re: N.C. business climate inches up

dahedgehog — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:38:18 -0400

Man, it must be crippling to the economies of those states with "bad business climates." I'd hate to be one of those people living in a "bad business climate" state, consigned to a life of poverty and shame.

Oh wait.

Ranking of median incomes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_the_United_States_by_income)

WY - 19
SD - 40
NV - 14
AK - 4
FL - 27

RI - 17
OH - 33
CA - 8
NY - 18
NJ - 2

N.C. business climate inches up

markjohnson — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:25:19 -0400

North Carolina's business tax climate improved slightly from 42nd to 39th in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation.

The group has steadily moved the state's ranking up over the past three years, but Republicans frequently point to the bottom-third placement as evidence that the state's taxes are too high. Democrats respond that when the overall tax burden is calculated -- local, state and federal taxes combined -- the state fares much better. They emphasize that North Carolina, unlike most other states, handles all of its education spending, which is more than half of the state budget, at the state level, so its taxes and spending will be out of line with states that handle education funding locally.

The top five climates (Nos. 1-5): Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska and Florida.

The worst five (Nos. 46 to 50): Rhode Island, Ohio, California, New York and New Jersey.