Friday, March 29, 2024

Don’t Mess with Texas: State Recognized as Most Business-Friendly in U.S.

Recently, CNBC announced that Texas came in first place for the network’s “2018 America’s Top States for Business” rankings. As CNBC noted in its announcement, “[t]his is familiar territory for the Lone Star State, which becomes the first four-time winner in our annual study, now in its 12th year… 1 in 7 jobs created in the United States in the past year was created in Texas.”

With that sort of economic track record, who wouldn’t want mimic the Lone Star State’s success? Fortunately, ALEC’s latest “Rich States, Poor States” report provides policymakers with a thorough opportunity to “cheat off Texas’s test” and figure out how to deliver greater economic growth to their state.

Some of the highlights from ALEC’s report include:

  • Texas is ranked “1st” in the nation for top marginal personal income tax rate with a rate of “0.00%”.
  • Texas is ranked “1st” in the nation for death taxes (estate/inheritance) levied — they do not have either.
  • Texas is ranked “4th” in the nation for top marginal corporate tax rate with a rate of 2.63 percent. (One would expect more New Jersey businesses to take advantage of this low rate, thanks to the Murphy-Sweeney tax hikes).
  • Texas is a right-to-work state.
  • The minimum wage in Texas mirrors the federal minimum wage.

In a nutshell, Texas is America’s best state for business (providing more jobs and opportunity to its residents than anywhere else in the country) because it does the polar opposite of virtually everything Democrats will campaign on this election cycle to grow the economy.

As President Trump follows Texas’ example by lowering individual tax rates, lowering corporate tax rates, and leaving a conservative imprint on the judiciary (Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch cast a pivotal vote in the Janus decision granting more workers right-to-work protections), Democrats are following the paths of Connecticut and New Jersey by embracing higher taxes and big government “Medicare for All” and “Jobs for All” policies. Ironically, Democrats are attacking President Trump with faux deficit alarmism while embracing a platform akin to a basket of the most ridiculous government spending programs ever proposed in America.

While it is disappointing to see a major U.S. political party increasingly embrace a radical left-wing agenda, Americans aren’t buying the “free lunch” that Democrats are selling. A new Zogby analysis shows voters find President Trump 11 percent more likely to grow the economy than Democrats, and as Democrats continue their march towards socialism, expect more voters to tune out their policy ideas. Americans want to be more like Texas, not Connecticut.

Photo credit: M&R Glasgow via Flickr, CC BY 2.0

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