For the seventh year in a row, a corporate relocation expert has ranked California as the worst state for business.
Chicago-based Ronald Pollina, whose annual Corporate Top 10 study evaluates job retention and creation by the 50 states and federal government, said the most business-friendly states are, in order, Virginia, Utah, Wyoming, South Carolina, North Carolina, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Alabama and Missouri.
The study uses 31 factors to rank states, including taxes, human resources, right-to-work legislation, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers' compensation laws and state economic development efforts.
"Many states are doing such a poor job of creating a pro-business environment that they can't even come close to competing with each other, much less compete globally," Mr. Pollina said.
Spencer Eccles, executive director of the Utah's Office of Economic Development, said the report is helpful for the states in the top 10. "Businesses around the world look closely at this report to decide where they want to relocate and expand," he said.
California's low ranking is explained by statements like this one from T.J. Rodgers, chief executive officer of Cypress Semiconductor: "The killer factor in California for a manufacturer to create, say, 1,000 blue-collar jobs is a hostile government that doesn't want you there and demonstrates it in thousands of ways." (Sources: Salt Lake Tribune, August 10; CNET News, August 24.)
Cal-TaxReports, August 30, 2010
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