Tennessee is Number 1 for Business (Chattanooga, Oak Ridge: sales, crime rate, houses)

[LauraC]

"There are some shining stars in the union that can still keep taxes low and attractive for businesses. The U.S. Chamber of Congress has ranked the top states for taxes and regulations. It took into account each states' cost of living, local tax burden, and budget outlook. Friendly states are those with their fiscal houses in order, even if their economies aren't that huge."

The Ten States Most Friendly To Business

And we're Number 1.

[septimus]

at what cost though? we have legislators that are willing to sell our mountains to the highest bidders to do mountain top mining? We are prostituting ourselves to attract amazon and its $10/hr jobs.

Generally I agree that it is a great climate to be affluent and run a business, but go 10 miles off any of the interstates in the state and the state and its people are POOR

[strumpeace]

We're one of the most impoverished states in the nation. We have one of the worst education systems in the nation. We have high teen pregnancy rates, high divorce rates, high violent crime rates, and high child and spousal abuse rates.

Our governor and legislature are obsessed with making TN 'business-friendly.' They're obsessed with smokestack chasing and luring minimum-wage-paying jobs. That does absolutely nothing to solve any of those other problems I mentioned. In fact, it could actually make many of those problems worse. The short-sightedness of our governor, our legislature, and the vast majority of our citizens is astounding and saddening.

[hiknapster]

Goodness. I guess it makes a difference where you live. The schools here are great and most people are thriving, but we have a fairly low unemployment rate considering the recession. In fact, we have the lowest rate out of all of the largest MSAs in the state.

I own a business and I am certainly entitled to whine. The state had road construction around our business, blocking off traffic for a very long time. We starved for quite awhile. Literally.

And then when they were done they left us with an unsafe driveway and access that doesn't remotely resemble what it looked like when we rented the place.

In April they told us they were taking the building by eminent domain and will pay to move us. Yet, we haven't heard from them since. Oh, but they want their taxes. They even threatened to put a lien on the business if we didn't pay up. Then they were shocked that we didn't owe all that much.

Having said that, we have unusual circumstances and I have my head on straight enough to recognize that. It is easy to start a business in this state. You pay $24 to the city, $24 to the county, notify the state and you are up and running.

And the cost of living is fabulous, the people are great and the bang we get for out tax dollar is CRAZY good.

Tennessee’s low cost of living, fourth lowest state and local tax burden and manageable budget gap place it first in this year’s tax and regulation rankings...

[jchometeam]

I dont suppose that any state is perfect. And it is true that the very things that make it attractive to business (low taxes, meaning fewer services) means that many people do hurt. And then its up to your political perspective to choose which you would want.

Personally, I generally like the track that TN is on. And if unemployment is high, even 10/hour jobs are better than no jobs, right?

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

We're one of the most impoverished states in the nation. We have one of the worst education systems in the nation. We have high teen pregnancy rates, high divorce rates, high violent crime rates, and high child and spousal abuse rates.

Our governor and legislature are obsessed with making TN 'business-friendly.' They're obsessed with smokestack chasing and luring minimum-wage-paying jobs. That does absolutely nothing to solve any of those other problems I mentioned. In fact, it could actually make many of those problems worse. The short-sightedness of our governor, our legislature, and the vast majority of our citizens is astounding and saddening.

This is a Top 10 Business Friendly List not a Top 10 Social Ills List. High teen pregnancy, high divorce rate, high violent crime rate and high abuse rate have nothing to do with Business Friendly. Apple pie has nothing to do with the color of your eyes, either, but feel free to throw it in your post.

Do you think if we had an all high tech state the people in minimum wage paying jobs would snap up those high tech jobs? They're in minimum wage paying jobs because they aren't qualified to do anything else and somebody has to do those jobs. They are living here because they can afford to live here with a minimum wage paying job.

[CMK10]

Originally Posted by septimus

at what cost though? we have legislators that are willing to sell our mountains to the highest bidders to do mountain top mining? We are prostituting ourselves to attract amazon and its $10/hr jobs.

Generally I agree that it is a great climate to be affluent and run a business, but go 10 miles off any of the interstates in the state and the state and its people are POOR

Ignoring the numerous oversights in your post, I thought I'd give you a ray of sunshine.

Amazon will react negatively to this. I guarantee it.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam willing to take lead on Internet sales tax » The Commercial Appeal

I suppose this is good news to you....

[CMK10]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

We're one of the most impoverished states in the nation. We have one of the worst education systems in the nation. We have high teen pregnancy rates, high divorce rates, high violent crime rates, and high child and spousal abuse rates.

Our governor and legislature are obsessed with making TN 'business-friendly.' They're obsessed with smokestack chasing and luring minimum-wage-paying jobs. That does absolutely nothing to solve any of those other problems I mentioned. In fact, it could actually make many of those problems worse. The short-sightedness of our governor, our legislature, and the vast majority of our citizens is astounding and saddening.

Yikes.....

[strumpeace]

Originally Posted by LauraC

This is a Top 10 Business Friendly List not a Top 10 Social Ills List. High teen pregnancy, high divorce rate, high violent crime rate and high abuse rate have nothing to do with Business Friendly. Apple pie has nothing to do with the color of your eyes, either, but feel free to throw it in your post.

Do you think if we had an all high tech state the people in minimum wage paying jobs would snap up those high tech jobs? They're in minimum wage paying jobs because they aren't qualified to do anything else and somebody has to do those jobs. They are living here because they can afford to live here with a minimum wage paying job.

I love my state. I was born and raised here. I came back here after leaving for some time. That said, it says something about our politicians (and those of you who support them) that we aspire to elevate our workforce to $10 per hour jobs. As long as we don't aim for better, we won't have better.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by CMK10

Ignoring the numerous oversights in your post, I thought I'd give you a ray of sunshine.

Amazon will react negatively to this. I guarantee it.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam willing to take lead on Internet sales tax » The Commercial Appeal

I suppose this is good news to you....

It is interesting to see how this has evolved. It was a Democrat (Bredesen) who secretly made the deal that Amazon would not have to collect sales tax in TN if it builds its distribution centers here, and it's a Republican (Randy McNally of Oak Ridge) who is sponsoring legislation to negate that deal. The world has gone mad.

I really don't understand why some people are determined to make Amazon collect sales tax from its TN customers if (and only if) it builds its distribution centers here. Just having a distribution center here doesn't mean that it'll take business away from stores that have a physical presence in the state; Amazon won't be doing anything different that it's not already doing now. Anyone in TN can already order from Amazon and not pay sales tax. So I don't see why those same Tennesseans should all of a sudden be forced to pay a sales tax just because now Amazon has a couple thousand employees in the Chattanooga area. (By the way, it's interesting to note that almost no one from Chattanooga seems to want Amazon to have to pay sales tax in Tennessee...)

And those social ills that others have mentioned have existed in Tennessee for generations. They didn't just spring up automatically once we had a governor and legislature that made our state more business friendly.

I'm glad that Tennessee is recognized as being business friendly, and I hope it means that more companies will want to move here and hire more Tennesseans.