Taxable Talk

The Tax Foundation today released its business climate survey of the 50 states. For the record, here are the top ten states:

1. Wyoming
   
2. South Dakota
   
3. Alaska
   
4. Florida
   
5. Nevada
   
6. New Hampshire
   
7. Texas
   
8. Delaware
   
9. Montana
   
10. Oregon
    

California ranks 40th, just missing out from the bottom ten. The bottom five are Vermont, Ohio, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York.

The last time the Tax Foundation ran their list (2004), California ranked 45th, so the state has managed to improve. Well, perhaps. Or perhaps some other states have managed to fall below the Golden State. Here's what the Tax Foundation says about New York: "New York has the worst individual income tax in the country, in addition to the 7th and 3rd worst wealth and unemployment taxes respectively. New York receives its highest score on its business tax, 18th best." California, for the record, ranks 39th for business tax, 47th for individual income tax, 38th for sales tax, 20th for unemployment insurance tax, and 7th for wealth tax.

The report is quite illuminating, and I recommend perusing it. You can find it here.

Thanks to the TaxProfBlog for pointing this survey out.