RealClearMarkets: Anti-Business States Awash in Red Ink

Excerpt:

Of the approximately $48 billion in accumulated budget shortfalls that the 29 states with projected deficits are facing, $33 billion, or two-thirds of the gap, is concentrated in those five states considered by corporate executives to be the least friendly to business. Meanwhile, among the five states ranked as having the best business environment, Texas and North Carolina have no projected budget gaps, and Georgia, Tennessee and Florida are facing shortfalls amounting to about $4.1 billion, or less than one-tenth of the states’ total.

An idealist would assume that those stark numbers would jump out at legislators in the most anti-business states and prompt a bracing re-evaluation of their spending, tax and regulatory regimes, as Paterson advocates. But no such luck. Paterson’s former colleagues in the state legislature are lobbying for a new tax on millionaires, while across the country California’s legislators have called for boosting the state’s top tax rate from 9.3 percent to 11 percent.

Read the whole thing. As the post points out, ironically enough, residents, particularly the wealthy, tend to support the kinds of politicans and legislators that advocate increased taxes and other anti-business measures. As a native Californian, I can attest to this fact, especially locally, as it seems residents have never met a pro-tax, anti-business politician they didn’t like. Free markets, low government intervention and taxes work. Increasing regulatory burdens, taxes, and generally making life miserable for business will only drive companies and residents away while contributing negatively to a state’s bottom line.