Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A Tale of Two States

California has always been regarded as one of the worst states to do business in.  Excess regulations, high taxes, and just a bad business climate.  I have been operating in California for many years now in multiple companies.  If I could at all avoid operating in California, I would. 

California has developed a web of regulations that raise labor costs, spurs litigation, and ties up expansion.  California in a poll by Chief Executive magazine ranked dead last for the past five years.  As one CEO put it, California is “just adversarial”.  It is not coincidence that California payrolls remain more than 1.46 million jobs below the pre-recession levels.  This represents one-fifth of the job deficit in the entire country for a state that is one-eight of the population.  It is the atitude reflected by the city manager of Brisbane who charges $13,510 for a permit to install a 131-kilowatt system and says he is “trying to promote the most solar we can.”

Texas on the other hand has rebounded to pre-recession levels for jobs.  It is no coincidence then that Texas is the top ranked state to do business in ranked by Chief Executive magazine.  Texas has no state income tax and a much better business climate. 

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