The Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC) has released its sixth annual rankings of states according to their respective policy climates for small business and entrepreneurship in the ”Small Business Survival Index 2001.”
According to the study, Nevada is the friendliest place for small business owners to set up shop. In fact, it appears that the motto, ”Go West Young Man” could apply strongly to small business owners as Western states received the top four spots. Southern states also fared well, with five making the top ten friendliest places to do business in the rankings.
SBSC chief economist Raymond J. Keating, author of the study, says the study ”offers a gauge by which to measure and compare how government in the states treat small businesses and entrepreneurs. Since small business serves as the backbone of the U.S. economy by providing the bulk of new jobs and majority of innovations, every state and local lawmaker should be concerned with the well-being of small business.”
”In an increasingly mobile and competitive national economy, differences in government-imposed costs of doing business can make a huge difference between whether a state grows economically or falls behind,” adds SBSC President Darrell McKigney.
The ”Small Business Survival Index 2001” ties together 17 major government-imposed or government-related costs impacting small businesses and entrepreneurs across a broad spectrum of industries and types of businesses-personal income taxes, capital gains taxes, corporate income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, death taxes, unemployment taxes, health insurance taxes, electricity costs, workers’ compensation costs, crime rates, right to work status, number of bureaucrats, tax limitation status, Internet taxes, gas taxes, and state minimum wages. These measures are combined into one index number-the Small Business Survival Index.
”The Small Business Survival Index manages to capture much of the governmental burdens impacting critical economic decisions-particularly affecting investment and entrepreneurship-state by state,” Keating says. ”The best policy environment for entrepreneurship consists of low taxes, limited government, restrained regulation, and government protecting life, limb and property. States following such a governing philosophy will reap great rewards from America’s entrepreneurs, including faster economic growth and increased job creation.”
Following are the complete state rankings for the Small Business Survival Index 2001:
Rank State SBSI Score
1 Nevada 27.060
2 South Dakota 28.250
3 Washington 32.010
4 Wyoming 32.150
5 Florida 33.180
6 Texas 34.250
7 New Hampshire 36.250
8 Alabama 36.830
9 Mississippi 38.160
10 Tennessee 39.540
11 Colorado 39.870
12 Michigan 40.205
13 Illinois 40.290
14 Alaska 40.880
15 Virginia 41.310
16 Indiana 41.820
17 Missouri 42.213
18 South Carolina 42.520
19 Louisiana 43.304
20 Arizona 44.178
21 Massachusetts 44.755
22 Pennsylvania 44.880
23 Georgia 45.350
24 North Dakota 45.379
25 Arkansas 45.420
26 Idaho 45.590
27 Maryland 46.310
28 Oklahoma 46.920
29 Delaware 46.950
30 Wisconsin 47.380
31 Nebraska 48.430
32 Kentucky 48.610
33 Connecticut 48.830
34 Utah 49.242
35 North Carolina 49.590
36 Oregon 50.010
37 New Jersey 50.360
38 Montana 50.979
39 Iowa 51.073
40 Ohio 52.870
41 West Virginia 53.120
42 Vermont 53.514
43 New York 54.005
44 California 54.860
45 New Mexico 55.410
46 Minnesota 55.890
47 Kansas 55.980
48 Maine 56.150
49 Hawaii 57.235
50 Rhode Island 59.011
51 Dist. Columbia 65.335
For a copy of the “Small Business Survival Index 2001,” visit SBSC’s website at www.sbsc.org. SBSC is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C.
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