◼ Down again. - Joseph Vranich/Fox&Hounds
That’s what we can say about California’s “business attractiveness” as its lost is tenth place ranking in a survey of site consultants, published yesterday by Area Development Online. Here is what Editor Dale Buss had to say about the state losing the ranking it had in last year’s survey:
“The state’s reputation with site consultants keeps taking hits — witness Toyota’s announcement earlier this year that it plans to move its corporate headquarters and 4,000 jobs to suburban Dallas from southern California. And so this year, California placed in the top states in only three of the 18 sub-categories, notably ranking third for access to capital and project funding, no doubt a legacy of the continued success of Silicon Valley.”
The new survey was interesting in other respects, too, in that Georgia took over the top spot, with Texas moving to second place. States in the South and mid-South dominate the list because of their continuing momentum in business development. Also, some states in the Midwest “are scratching their way back into position as major players in the U.S. economic-development derby.”
◼ On top of that: USA RANKED #32 IN BIZ INDEX...
A new global index highlights the harm from the U.S. tax code.... a new international ranking shows that the U.S. tax burden on business is close to the worst in the industrialized world. Way to go, Washington.
