Montana ranks poorly on business climate
Forbes is out with it's 2007 "Best States for Business" rankings, and Montana slipped from 38th in the nation last year to 42nd. All our surrounding states rank well ahead of Montana: Idaho 6th, North Dakota 9th, South Dakota 25th and Wyoming 29th. (Any coincidence that Idaho, NoDak, and SoDak rank in the top 25 and all have Republican governors?)
Digging deeper into the comparison, Montana ranked very poorly on the Business Costs Rank compared to our region; this category includes tax burden on business. Montana came in at 24th, compared to South Dakota 1st, Wyoming 2nd, North Dakota 5th, and Idaho 11th. Montana also came in last in our region in Growth Prospects Rank and Quality of Life Rank.
We had opportunities to improve our business climate during the last legislative session - all were killed by the Senate Democrats with the backing of the Gov. In fact, rather than try to improve the tax and regulatory environment businesses must operate within, the administration attempted to increase the tax burden on business! If we're going to be competitive within our region, something's got to change.
Carter
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Reader Comments (9)
Kudos for highlighting this. It's telling! When you consider the prospects for residential and commercial real estate growth, the regulatory environment is only going to get worse. The regulatory onslaught is coming...
Oh give me a break. If we have such a bad business climate then while is the Montana economy going like gang busters? You know what they say there is 3 types of lies. Lies. Damn Lies. and Statistics
Going like gangbusters? That economic activity is the result of real estate development to satiate the demand from out-of-state interlopers and natural resource development, primarily oil, in eastern Montana. Guess what, that's not going to last forever. Last year, just the increase in Wyoming coal production was more than the total Montana digs.
If the economy is so great, why do we rank 47th in average annual income? Wyoming ranks 23rd.
If you don't want to believe the statistics, then just keep on believing the Gov's lies.
Thanks for the post Carter. Lenny - I love you man - you keep opening the door for Carter to female Jag slap you.
Give B.S. another term and there won't be any natural resource development. This coal gig of his is all talk and no action...typical of a All Hat kinda rancher.
What has the Governor done to improve the business climate during his term? Nothing. He deserves no credit for the current economic boom.
What I want to know is what will the Governor do to make sure we see a good economy 10 years from now?
Biz Guy - My guess is nothing
Something not noted here is that Montana is the only state in the region to not have a Right to Work law.
me - Tax policy has more to do with the poor business climate in Montana, especially since the environmentalists have effectively shut down so many blue collar jobs. The union strength right now lies with the teachers unions, and a Right to Work law doesn't affect them in the ways that it would affect traditional union jobs.