Suzi Wizowaty

Are taxes by definition "bad for business"? Are a lovely environment, a strong educational system, a healthy population "bad for business"? The conservative Tax Foundation apparently thinks so. But let's take a closer look at the statistics released in their recent report. (Thanks, Mark Mitchell, for drawing my attention to the following.)

Take Mississippi, the state hailed by the Tax Foundation as having the lowest tax burden per capita. Mississippi also :
-- has the highest rate of food hardship,
-- is the unhealthiest state in the country,
-- ranks last in child health indicators, and
-- comes in 45th in public school graduation.

Well, what about Nevada? There's a great, low-tax state, right? In fact according to the Tax Foundation, Nevada has the #4 best business tax climate. But wait. Nevada also:
-- has the highest crime rate,
-- has the worst public school graduation rate (only half of Nevada's high school students graduate),
-- has the 10th highest rate of food hardship, and
-- is the 4th unhealthiest state in America.

Hmm. What about Florida, the state that wealthy Vermonters supposedly are all threatening to move to? It ranks near the top in business tax climate (5th) but...
-- it has the 6th worst crime rate,
-- it's the 5th unhealthiest state in America,
-- it ranks 12th highest in the rate of food hardship, and
-- it has the next-to-worst public school graduation rate.

And then there's Vermont. The Tax Foundation ranks us 12th in the nation for our tax burden and 41st for our business tax climate. That's bad, right? On the other hand, Vermont...
-- is the second safest state (#2),
-- has the smartest citizens (#1),
-- has the healthiest children (#1), and
-- has less violent crime than any other state (#50).

Do business owners care about these things? Of course they do! Business owners are people with lives and families, just like everyone else. When Forbes Magazine rates our quality of life #2 in the nation, they don't mean for everyone except business owners.

Vermont has a higher quality of life in part because we pay higher taxes. That is the purpose of taxes--to allow government to provide services that ensure a state or a country's well-being. In Vermont we each pay roughly $127 a year more than the average U.S. citizen to live in a state that excels in health, safety and education, maintains a clean and beautiful environment, and by the way has the lowest foreclosure rate in the country and less unemployment than almost every other state.

Is it worth it? You bet.

To check out the numbers yourself, cut and paste this into your browser: http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/335.html