There is a lot of talk around about eliminating the states income tax in order to make the state more business friendly. The notion that states with no income tax are fundamentally business friendly ignores the other variables that make a state good for business. Two of the nine states with no income tax (Florida and Nevada), get significant revenue from tourism. Alaska has no income tax but they have a substantial tax on oil and gas production. Four states, Alaska (#2), South Dakota (#3), Texas (#5) and Wyoming (#12) have among the highest birth rates in the country, which is good for their economies (Maine is 46th). And there are consequences to having no income tax. New Hampshire and Tennessee, for example, have among the highest property taxes in the country as well as a tax on capital gains and income taxes, and Washington State has both a high sales tax and a local option sales tax, which can run the total sales tax in some places up close to 10%. Ill be developing my thoughts more on this in the next few days. I do not believe the governors idea to drastically reduce the income tax or eliminate it altogether is in Maines best interest or ultimately good for business.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 19:54:31 +0000
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