Draining the blood from small business

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | August 25, 2003 | Ralph R. Reiland

[buzzyboop]

"Pennsylvania is 51st in taxes on corporate income," said Darrell McKigney when I spoke with him last week. "And Pennsylvania is 44th in health care costs, 39th in electric utility rates, 42nd in workers' compensation rates and 47th in gas taxes." McKigney is the president of the Small Business Survival Committee in Washington, D.C., one of the nation's leading small-business advocacy organizations. With the rankings mentioned above, he was referring to how Pennsylvania stacks up against other states and the District of Columbia in the latest Small Business Survival Index.

[buzzyboop]

A sledgehammer of an essay. Who's next to be driven away from PA? Hmmm??? Fast Eddie???

[Temple Owl]

I love Pennsylvania. The people are the kindest and nicest in the country. I feel so helpless. I just don't know how to cope with politicians and stupidity.

[Ramcat]

"The solution? Short of building a wall so we can't escape, the only way the politicians are going to revive the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh economies is by removing the government-imposed barriers to economic growth that they've erected, thereby making this region more competitive with the rest of the country."

When pigs fly.

[Free Vulcan]

Anyone know where to find the list? Would like to see where Iowa ranks.

[Noumenon]

I just don't know how to cope with politicians and stupidity.

Next time, vote from the rooftops.

[JPJones]

The solution? Short of building a wall so we can't escape...

Don't give them any ideas.

[yhwhsman]

If you find it, let me know. I'd be curious as to which states rank in the top ten.

[Temple Owl]

Next time, vote from the rooftops

Eh? Want to expand on that?.

[txzman]

"The bottom line is that overblown government and high taxes in Pennsylvania are killing job growth."

Shades of Ronald Reagan - yet politicians still do not learn.

[yhwhsman]

Okay, it's a .pdf file HERE. It's an icon on the right hand side with a map of the US on it.

[JeanLM]

I question some of these statistics. The electicity/energy cost in Pa. is not uniform. If you look at where we manufacture,in N.E. Pa., the rates are below the national average. Workers compensation rates are very sensitive to company performance. And there are many more states worse than Pa. in terms of the legal laxity allowed in comp. cases. Ohio, Calif., Maine, Texas, La.,to name just a few. The personal income tax and sales tax rates are lower than neighboring NJ, NY and Ohio.

But the corp. tax rate is a problem and medical malpractic is driving the doctors out.

I have little confidence in Rendell to move in a direction that is business friendly, because the Democratic voters in Philadelphia and Pittsburg overwhelm the rest of us most years in the state elections.

But it isn't as bad as the article relates. It depends on where you are in this state, and I'm sure it's true in many other states as well.

One thing I know. We have some of the best workers here in Pa., when you get away from the drug-ridden cities.

[Cobra64]

I was in the steel business for 30 years. My Dad was in the steel business for 47 years. Most of our structurals and plate came from Bethlehem and Sparrows Point. Beth is a carcass. My daughgter went to Lehigh University, as did my elder brother in the mid 1960s and my Dad in the early 1940s. The steel-making capity of this 7 mile long universe was unbevielable. Today; it's a rust bucket. The folks living there are mostly illegall imigrants. Sorry for the rant. But, it's an effing shame. The Davis' had 4 (four) generations at Lehigh and in the STEEL business.

[MonroeDNA]

Big Union Steel.

[Lurker]

Lately it seems that whomever one votes for, Government wins.

L

[Moonman62]

Today; it's a rust bucket. The folks living there are mostly illegall imigrants. Sorry for the rant. But, it's an effing shame. The Davis' had 4 (four) generations at Lehigh and in the STEEL business.

What's a shame is that the business and government leaders didn't promote the creation of new growth buinesses. My guess is they focused on protectionism instead. At least they have plenty of illegals to fill the water glasses at the club.

[Michael Barnes]

re #2

Love the folks up here..Lived in the South for a while. Nice enough, but just not the PA type I've come to grow and love. Mind you, I grew up on teh west coast (whew!! night and day!)

[Free Vulcan]

Thank ya kindly.

[Free Vulcan]

Iowa is 44th out of 50 states and DC. Thanks Guv Viltax.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Wow -- South Dakota is at the top of the list. Alabama is #10. Thankfully, the tax referendum looks as if it will fail, otherwise, we'd probably be moving closer to PA.

[Dialup Llama]

>The lower a state's score, the friendlier it is to small business. To be 51st in corporate taxes, in other words, means that Pennsylvania on that score is the most unfriendly place in the nation for small business, the economic sector that includes 99.7 percent of all employers and creates 74 percent of the country's new net jobs, according to the most recent federal data.

The death of jobs in PA is well known to anyone from there. When the mills closed the predicted software jobs never materialized. The jobs just left. Now PA is known for its numerous retirees (second behind Florida). Anyone who can leave there, has left. They leave as soon as they graduate.