Beat Business Climate by State

Survey: Which States Are Small-Business-Friendly?   Pulling a rabbit out of a fishbowl here boss         “ California plus the Northeast (aside from New Hampshire) are the most unfriendly overall. Add in the trio of Midwest industrial states (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio) plus Washington and Hawaii and you get the full list of seriously unfriendly states, with “D+” or worse grades. The list of best states also includes few surprises: Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, Utah, Virginia and several other Southern states. Virginia (grade of A) far outdistances Maryland (C-), notwithstanding the views of Washington Post business writers who often chide the Old Dominion for not emulating the economic policies of its neighbor to the north. Other states, even in the Northeast, tend to do OK in one or two areas—New Jersey and Vermont avoid piling costs onto new hiring, Connecticut and Illinois are not entirely hopeless on zoning, and so forth. The exception is California: it’s awful on everything. California  and Maryland bad; Texas and Virgina good.   All the drama of watching a rabbit pulled out of a fishbowl. A survey that wasn't necessary.  This is interesting however (and true) Small businesses care almost twice as much about licensing regulations as they do about tax rates when rating the business-friendliness of their state or local government. Everyone knows high taxes depress business activity; it is libertarians who go on to offer a critique of licensure laws, and never has it seemed so relevant.  ”