Billings Gazette: Study says Montana has one of best business tax climates; Wyoming is tops
Montana has the eighth-best business tax climate nationally, a national study concludes.
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan educational organization based in Washington, D.C, issues its rankings yearly. Montana dropped a spot from seventh place in 2011 to eighth place in 2012.
“Montana does have a good tax climate,” Gov. Brian Schweitzer said. “It’s not new.”
He said Montana’s tax rating should move up a notch or two next year because the study doesn’t include a 2011 law that further reduces property taxes on certain business equipment.
“Montana has a good tax environment,” Schweitzer said. “We have an eager and educated workforce, and it’s a high quality of life here. Those are things that attract businesses to invest.”
Webb Brown, president of the Montana Chamber of Commerce, called the ranking “good for promotional purposes.”
“Like always, we take those things with a grain, but we’ll promote the heck out of it anyway,” Brown said of state-by-state rankings. “We have made some good changes over the year.”
Brown said the Tax Foundation gives a lot of credit in its rankings to states that don’t have certain major taxes, such as general sales taxes or individual income taxes, but doesn’t look at the total tax burden on a business.
“Any savvy business will do their own homework and look at total tax burden,” he said.
Wyoming topped the 2012 list with the best state business tax climate, followed by South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire and Washington. Following Montana was Texas at ninth and Utah at 10th.
Many of the states ahead of Montana have experienced financial problems and may be looking to raise taxes, Schweitzer said.
“I think we’re eighth and getting better,” he said.
The report acknowledged that the absence of a major tax “is a dominant factor in vaulting many of these 10 states to the top of the rankings.”
“Property taxes and unemployment insurance taxes are levied in every state, but there are several states that do without one or more of the major taxes: the corporate tax, the individual income tax or the sales tax,” the Tax Foundation said.
