Fitzsimon File

One of the most compelling arguments against offering huge tax incentives to attract businesses to North Carolina is that the money would be better spent invested in education, worker training and efforts to improve the quality of life in the state. That improves the overall business climate for everyone, not just one targeted company.

Most new jobs in North Carolina are created by small businesses that benefit from the investments too, but politicians increasingly are defending their calls for tax cuts and less government spending by claiming that tax rates and regulation are crippling small businesses.

Two new reports about state conditions for small business in North Carolina help expose those claims as part of a broad anti-government agenda. Entrepreneur Magazine ranks our state sixth best in the country for small business success and the Charlotte metro area ranks as the second best city in the nation.  Sounds like a pretty good climate.

The study was based on the number of businesses operating and growing, the proximity to high-tech companies, and a series of quality of life indicators, education, transportation, population diversity, etc.

But as the Fayetteville Observer reports, another study paints a much different picture, ranking North Carolina the 13^th worst state for small business survival. That ranking is based on a combination of much different factors, primarily the top tax rates on both individuals and corporations and state laws and regulations like the minimum wage.

It also includes measures like the “number of bureaucrats,” assuming that state employees are a problem, not people who provide essential services to consumers and businesses. 

That ranking comes from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council in Washington. The group’s mission statement sounds innocuous enough with its talk of creating a favorable and productive climate for small business.

But the four-member Board listed on the group’s website includes Grover Norquist, a leader of the right-wing, anti-government forces in Washington who runs Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that demands that political candidates sign no-new tax pledges.

Norquist has been quoted as saying his goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."   Low rankings from groups that have leaders with that philosophy ought to be a badge of honor, not a reason to change policy.

A poll by the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business in September found that small business owners in North Carolina are generally optimistic about their future prospects. 

That’s because there are many more things to consider than taxes and the number of state employees. Commerce Department official Greg Thomas told the Fayetteville reporter that businesses start here because of quality schools, an educated workforce, and a good highway system

He’s right and all but the ideologues know it.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.