Business Studies Rank 78% of States in Bottom Quarter

The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) launched another attack on Wisconsin's business climate, nicely exposed by Xoff. I decided to see if other states had similar outfits bashing, smashing, and lashing out in an effort to smear their state government, in a sinister, malevolent effort to shift taxes to ordinary citizens.

First stop, New York.  Sure enough, the Public Policy Institute of New York State, Inc. (PPI), proudly trashes the Empire State.  It claims to be a non-partisan, tax exempt organization, designed to make the public believe they are a neutral, unbiased party.  Their chairman is the retired CEO of Texaco, and the first trustee listed is the retired CEO of Corning.

Their studies generally originate from right-wing think tanks.  Occasionally they use academic studies, but only if they embarrass the home team in Albany. 

All of their studies rank New York State at the bottom of the various categories they use to evaluate state governments. 

With their studies in hand, I then grabbed a couple that our own WMC touts on tax burdens and tort reform (One ranks Texas #1; the other ranks Texas 43rd) to check the consistency of the findings. 

My methodology is flawless. I used only studies offered by right wing foundations, or the shill front groups trying to disgrace the home state. I took seven studies and looked at the bottom 12 or 13 states in each ranking. The studies covered taxes, so called 'tort reform', overall taxes, business taxes, and the overall cost of doing business.

The finding is very simple.

78% of the states are ranked in the bottom quarter in one or more of the studies.

In other words, we got enough research here to rap any state you want.  Just for the hell of it, I took a look at one study they used to slam NY, The State Competitiveness Index., which was prepared by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston. 

The Beacon Hill Institute's 2005 State Competitiveness Index measures nine factors including government fiscal policy, legal/regulatory system, infrastructure, labor force, technology, and finance/prices. Higher score indicates conditions likely to produce higher incomes and better standards of living.

Wisconsin ranks a lofty 16th; New York is 40th.  This is one study WMC will never plug in Wisconsin.

Seven Studies That Rank 78% of the States Well Below Average:

1.A.

1. U.S. Tort Liability Reform Study

2. Institute for Legal Reform (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)

3. Tax Foundation: Business TaxClimate

4. Tax Foundation: State and Local Tax Burden

5. Tax Foundation: State Expenditures per Capita

6. PPI of New York State: Business Taxes as Percent  of Gross State Product

7. PPI of New York State: Miliken Institute Cost of Doing Business Index

Author's Notes:  Rankings go from '1' being the best to '50' being the lowest.  Some findings were reversed to keep the numeric standard consistent. I did not cherry pick the studies. It is only a coincidence that Wisconsin appears in the bottom quarter in only one instance. If I put my mind to it, I could find more studies that trash Wisconsin. The states that appear in the bottom quarter in at least one of the studies are in red. 

I am  sure that with enough time, I could find enough studies to rank every state in the bottom quarter.