Earlier this week, Chief Executive magazine issued its annual “Best & Worst States for Business” survey, which asked business leaders nationwide how they view states in key policies areas such as taxation, regulation, quality of workforce, and living environment. As with most surveys, your mileage will vary based on what you think of the survey’s methodology.
Yet, it is worth noting that the business leaders who responded to Chief Executive did not hold Missouri in especially high regard. The Show-Me State ranked 31st in business friendliness compared to the rest of the United States. Lucky for us, our neighbor Illinois came in at an abysmal 48th place; unlucky for us, Kansas came in at a comfortable 19th. (Incidentally, the Chief Executive survey results resemble the Kauffman Foundation’s findings last month on business friendliness.)
Houston, we have a problem.
Speaking of Texas, there is one other thing worth noting about Chief Executive‘s survey — what the states in the top five have in common. Three of the top five states — Texas (first place), Florida (second place), and Tennessee (fourth place) — do not have an individual income tax. Indiana (fifth place) just enacted legislation to cut its income tax; North Carolina (third place) is pushing hard to reduce its income taxes as well.
I have talked before about the Growth Corridor developing in the Midwest. Missouri should cut income taxes of all sorts, not only because they harm growth in a vacuum, but also because we are surrounded by neighbors who are enacting pro-growth policies in an effort to grow their states’ businesses . . . and to attract ours. Kansas may be the most visible example these days of a state’s tax policy posing a threat to Missouri’s economic future, but it is not just about Kansas. It is about the whole region.
We cannot wait any longer to start cutting these taxes. Missourians need tax relief, and they need it now.
