Free Republic

Business at Weidmann Electrical Technology in St. Johnsbury is booming. So much, the company is looking to expand its operations. But that expansion will not take place in Vermont due to high taxes and a strong impression by investors that Vermont is unfriendly to business, according to a letter sent April 2 by John Goodrich, vice president and general manager of Weidmann Technology. "The paradox of the situation is this: we are extremely busy but are unable to expand in Vermont," ... Vermont needs to decide if it indeed wants to encourage in-state businesses to expand and new industry to...

IT IS AN axiom of commerce that economic development follows Interstate highways. Except in Vermont. A new study by University of Vermont economist Arthur Woolf has found that development that should have come along I-91 up the Connecticut River instead came across the river — in New Hampshire. The reason? Higher taxes and regulations in Vermont. “We’re seeing the gap grow larger and larger each time we do the study,”... “Those communities along the river are really feeling the impact now.” They are feeling the impact of taxes and regulations imposed in the 1960s and ’70s... Vermont border counties had...