You asked about the business climate in Connecticut. You asked specifically how agencies and companies who issue ratings about business climate rate Connecticut in comparison to the other 49 states in terms of “business friendly attitude,” taking into consideration factors such as business taxes, utility costs, and regulatory environment. You also wanted to know where the state stands on manufacturing jobs compared to the other states.

SUMMARY

We examined five indexes. Connecticut’s rank in those indexes ranged from a best of 15 to a low of 44. The indexes we looked at were:

• The Council on State Taxation’s Total State and Local Business Taxes: A 50-State Study of the Taxes Paid by Businesses in FY 2003 (ranked Connecticut 43^rd in the share of all taxes paid by businesses).

• The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s Small Business Survival Index 2005: Ranking the Policy Environment for Entrepreneurship Across the Nation (ranked Connecticut 36^th).

• The Beacon Hill Institute’s Metro Area and State Competitiveness Report 2004 (ranked Connecticut 15^th), which measured the policies and conditions that ensure and sustain a high level of per capita income and its continued growth.

• The Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index (ranked Connecticut 37^th), which measured corporate income tax, individual income tax, sales and gross receipts tax, unemployment tax, and state fiscal balance.

• The Public Policy Institute of New York’s report Just the Facts: Key Economic and Social Indicators for New York State, which includes rankings of all 50 states for business climate (ranked Connecticut 6^th highest), measured by the costs of labor and energy along with state and local taxes.

The Public Policy Institute of New York used statistics from the U. S. Department of Labor and published, as part of its Just the Facts: Key Economic and Social Indicators for New York State report, a table showing the manufacturing job gain or loss for each state for 1993 to 2003, 2000 to 2003, and for 2003. Connecticut ranked 44^th in this list, losing 23. 9% of its manufacturing jobs from 1993 to 2003. This compares to the national average of 14. 8% jobs lost. The state ranked 30^th in the three years from 2000 to 2003, with 16. 7% manufacturing jobs lost as compared to the national average of 16. 6%. For 2003, the state ranked 35^th as it lost 4. 6% of its manufacturing jobs, compared to the national average of 3. 9%.

ORGANIZATIONS ISSUING STUDIES

According to its Web site (http: //www. statetax. org), the Council on State Taxation (COST) “is a nonprofit trade association consisting of approximately 550 multistate corporations engaged in interstate and international business. COST's objective is to preserve and promote equitable and nondiscriminatory state and local taxation of multijurisdictional business entities. ”

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, according to its Web site (http: //www. sbsc. org/), “works to influence legislation and policies that help to create a favorable and productive environment for small businesses and entrepreneurship. By educating policymakers, elected

officials, the media and the public about the critical role that small businesses play in our economy—and how government actions can positively or negatively affect the small business community. ” [sic]

The Beacon Hill Institute’s Web site (http: //www. beaconhill. org/) says “the institute is grounded in the principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility and free markets, the Beacon Hill Institute engages in rigorous economic research and conducts educational programs for the purpose of producing and disseminating readable analyses of current public policy issues to voters, taxpayers, opinion leaders and policy makers. ”

The Tax Foundation’s Web site (http: //www. taxfoundation. org/) says, “as a nonpartisan educational organization, the Tax Foundation has earned a reputation for independence and credibility. However, it is not devoid of perspective. All Tax Foundation research is guided by the following principles of sound tax policy,” simplicity, transparency, stability, neutrality, and growth promotion.

The Public Policy Institute of New York (http: //www. ppinys. org) is affiliated with the Business Council of New York, which in its mission statement states it is “mobilizing the resources of a united business community to press for public policies that will improve the business climate. ” The Institute used information from Economy. com to create the table included.

The 50-state indexes from each organization are presented in Tables 1 through 6.

Table 1: The Council on State Taxation’s Total State and Local Business Taxes: A 50-State Study of the Taxes Paid by Businesses in FY 2003

Note: The higher the score, the more favorable a state’s tax system is for business. Virginia and Indiana were the only states with identical scores. Both rank 12^th, and the next state ranks 14^th.

Table 2: The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s Small Business Survival Index 2005: Ranking the Policy Environment for Entrepreneurship Across the Nation

Factors weighed:

• Regulatory Flexibility Status

Table 3: The Beacon Hill Institute’s Metro Area and State Competitiveness Report 2004