Where We Live: A Foggy Business Climate
Candidates have been saying some bad things about the state's business climate
Candidates on the election trail have been saying some pretty bad things about Connecticut’s business climate…but is any of it true?
Connecticut is often denigrated as a state that’s unfriendly to business. We have high taxes, high wages and high costs, we're told, and that's driving jobs out of the state.
But has anyone ever really put these assumptions to the test?
UConn’s Quarterly economic report is out just in time for the mid-term elections and a part of the report takes on the topic. Economist Dennis Heffley joins us to talk about some actual data about creating jobs in Connecticut.
We’ll also be joined by an economist from the Connecticut Business and Industry Association who’s long said the state needs to be more business-friendly.
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cbia
The CBIA comes across as a bunch of whiners. I've been listening to them complain for years. When confronted with a few facts about the cost of doing business in Ct. on your show they responded with quite a few umms and ohs. The CBIA announcing Connecticut is bad place to do business every chance they get has certainly not helping the business climate. I think industry would be better served by finding another organization to represent their interests.
Listener Email from Jordan
I often hear from Republicans that the State agencies and permitting is more difficult here in Connecticut. What they don't mention is that the agencies are run by the Governor. We have had 20 years of republicans leading our state government. I agree that the state government is out of date and poorly run. The blame is with the Governor not the legislature. The Democrats in the legislature have passed reforms that Gov. Rell has ignored.
The studies that show CT is "bad for business" (35th in the nation) are based on taxes. States that have no business or personal income taxes are rated the highest. That is the truth of these studies.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp59.pdf
What would make CT better? Reduce the cost of electricity and the cost of insurance. CT has the highest energy costs in the continental USA.
Republicans routinely vote against these two reforms. (Energy bill and Polling bill this year). The CBIA is mostly funded by insurance companies. There is a connection between their positions.
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