Taxable Talk

Another week, another survey of which state is best for business. For the eighth straight year, Chief Executive magazine ranked Texas as the best state in the union as to where to conduct business. Unsurprisingly, California is at the bottom. My state, Nevada, is at #12; Aaron’s home of Maryland is #40. Here are the top ten and bottom ten states:

1. Texas
2. Florida
3. North Carolina
4. Tennessee
5. Indiana
6. Virginia
7. South Carolina
8. Georgia
9. Utah
10. Arizona

41. Hawaii
42. Oregon
43. Pennsylvania
44. Connecticut
45. New Jersey
46. Michigan
47. Massachusetts
48. Illinois
49. New York
50. California

The two states that made the biggest moves were Oregon and Louisiana. Oregon fell nine spots in the ranking, likely due to their income tax increase that passed last year. On the other end of the spectrum is Louisiana, which was ranked 47th in 2006 but is now ranked 13th (up 27 spots from 2011).

Meanwhile, Chief Executive describes California as having slipped deeper into the ninth circle of business hell. Perhaps this section of the report will enlighten Sacramento:

The following is a representative sample of comments from participating CEOs:

• California is the worst! They are doing everything possible to drive a business out of their state. If it were not for the climate, they would have lost half their population.
• California regulations, taxes and costs will leave only tech, life sciences and entertainment as viable. If you aren’t an elitist, no room here for the middle or working classes.
• California treats business owners like criminals. California has different overtime policies for its own employees vs. private sector.
• California’s labor regulation is a job killer. We will be moving our business out of the state, which will lose hundreds of jobs simply due to the poor regulatory environment.
• California should secede from the union—it is like doing business in a foreign country, it has its own exchange rate, and its regulation is crazy.

Meanwhile, the budget deficit in California grows (the Legislative Analyst says it’s at $3 billion and will grow from that number). Perhaps the idea of cutting regulations and spending just what the state takes in might garner some support in Sacramento. Well, one can always dream….

A week ago I wrote about former Louisiana State Senator Charles Jones. Just before his retrial on tax evasion, he was cited for driving while under the influence. That apparently wasn’t a good omen for Mr. Jones.

His trial was last week, and the jury began deliberating on Monday. After three hours, they found him guilty of all three counts of tax evasion. The IRS and Department of Justice showed, to the satisfaction of the jury, that Mr. Jones evaded taxes on about $750,000 of legal fees (around $190,000 of taxes). Mr. Jones will be sentenced in December.

When I last wrote about Charles Jones, he had pleaded not guilty to three counts of tax evasion. The first trial ended in a mistrial. His retrial is set to begin on Monday.

Well, there’s nothing like a good drink (or two, three, or four) to relax before a federal trial. It appears that’s exactly what Mr. Jones did. He then took the wheel of his car, and was pulled over for failing to use his turn signals when turning. The report in the Monroe (Louisiana) News-Star notes, “…the former Democratic senator was unsteady on his feet and was using his car for balance.” Add alcohol on the breath and a failed blood alcohol test, and Mr. Jones has something else to worry about after his tax trial.