Forbes: Virginia remains ‘Best State for Business’
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Virginia will remain in first place as Forbes.com’s “Best State for Business.” It is the fourth consecutive year Virginia has been top ranked. The Commonwealth finished in the top 10 in three of the six categories examined in the review, which was published today.
“With our low corporate tax rate, highly-skilled workforce, and great quality of life, it’s no wonder Virginia consistently attracts some of the world’s most innovative and corporate leaders to our borders,” said Gov. Kaine. “In these tough economic times in particular, the recognition by Forbes today is an incredible affirmation that Virginia has what it takes to compete at the national and global arenas.”
Forbes.com looks at rigorous qualifications and the Commonwealth has come out on top again in quality of life, regulatory environment, and labor. Virginia has been named the most business friendly state ever year of Gov. Kaine’s administration. The award from the world-recognized financial brand follows Virginia’s most recent number one rankings from Pollina Corporate Real Estate and CNBC this past summer.
During Gov. Kaine’s administration, Virginia has been recognized as the Best State for Business (Forbes.com 2006-2009), the Top State for Business (CNBC 2007, 2009), the Top Pro-Business State (Pollina Corporate Real Estate Inc. 2003, 2007, 2009), the top-performing state government in America (Governing Magazine 2008) and the state where “a child is most likely to have a successful life (Education Week 2007).”
Utah was ranked second by Forbes.com, followed by Washington, North Carolina, and Georgia. Colorado, Idaho, Florida, Texas and Nebraska rounded out the top ten list.
The Forbes.com ranking considers states’ business costs (cost of labor, energy, and taxes), labor issues (educational attainment, net migration, and projected population growth), regulatory environment (regulatory and tort environment, incentives, and bond ratings), economic climate (job, income, and gross state product growth, as well as unemployment and corporate headquarter relocations), growth prospects (projected job, income, and gross state product growth, as well as announced business openings and closings), and quality of life (index of schools, health, crime, cost of living, and poverty rates).
“I am extremely proud of this independent ranking which once again validates the successful strategy and efforts of economic development programs throughout the Commonwealth,” said Patrick O Gottschalk, Secretary of Commerce and Trade.
The Commonwealth took the lead in the quality of life ranking, took second place in the regulatory environment ranking and third in the labor issues. Virginia was 12th in growth prospects, 18th in economic climate and 20th in business costs.
Gov. Kaine has announced $12.24 billion in new economic development investments and 72,928 jobs since taking office in January 2006.
To read the Forbes.com article, go to http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/23/best-states-for-business-beltway-best-states.html.
Related posts:
- Virginia makes Top 5 on another best state for business list Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today highlighted Virginia’s ranking among the “Five Best States to Start a Business.” The recognition by U.S. News & World Report...
- CNBC: Virginia ‘Top State for Business’ again Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today announced that for the second time during his administration, CNBC has named Virginia its “Top State for Business”. This best-in-the-nation...
- Once again, the best state for business Item by Chris Graham freepress2@ntelos.net And the blowhards are trying to say that Virginia would be better off without Tim Kaine … Forbes.com has once...
- On the top-state-for-business bandwagon The big news in an otherwise slow news week – for those who don’t consider Michael Jackson to be anything other than an odd curiosity...
- JMU cracks Forbes top colleges list James Madison University ranks No. 37 among 100 colleges and universities on Forbes’ 2009 list of America’s Best Public Colleges. JMU ranks No. 234 on...
Comments
4 Responses to “Forbes: Virginia remains ‘Best State for Business’”Trackbacks
Check out what others are saying about this post...-
[...] Read More.. [...]
Today, Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor Jody Wagner released the following statement regarding Forbes’ “Best State for Business Rankings,” which named Virginia #1 for the fourth consecutive year:
“I’m extremely proud to have been a part of the Warner and Kaine teams that made Virginia the best state in the country for business. This ranking reflects not just our strong business environment, but clearly demonstrates the importance of the investments we’ve made in education over the past eight years. For Virginians feeling the hurt of the current economic downturn, this announcement again shows that because of our strong fiscal management and commitment to create new jobs, the Commonwealth is prepared to emerge quickly, and stronger than ever.
While this ranking indicates the success we’ve had in recent years, it also is a reminder of the clear choice Virginians will face in November. As Treasurer and Secretary of Finance, I’ve played a key role in making the tough, bold choices that established and maintained our strong business climate. Yet at every turn, my opponent Bill Bolling stood in the way of this progress. If we keep Virginia moving forward, there will be many more awards to come, but more importantly, we’ll continue to create new jobs, grow the economy, and be able to further invest in education and transportation. Virginia can’t afford the move backwards that another four years of a no show Lieutenant Governor will result in.”
Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor, released the following statement Wednesday on Virginia being named Forbes’ “Best State for Business” for the fourth year in a row.
“I’m proud to have worked with Governors Warner and Kaine and Republican leaders like John Chichester to make Virginia the best state for business. Thanks to our bipartisan work, Virginia has consistently been recognized for our fiscal responsibility and good governance.
“In 2004, I worked with Governor Warner and a bipartisan coalition to pass budget reform that saved Virginia’s Aaa bond rating and made record investments in education. My opponent stood on the side of fiscal irresponsibility.
“The next governor will be in charge of keeping our economy moving forward, as we weather tough economic times. As Governor, I will keep Virginia as the best state to do business. My opponent’s record shows that he will not.”
Virginia may be the “Best State for Business” in regard to large companies and corporations, but when it comes to small, job training schools, Virginia, particularly the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), is about as welcoming as a giant python.
The quote below is from a July 10 New York Times article on Yoga Teachers and state regulation (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/nyregion/11yoga.html). It is good example of what SCHEV (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia) wants (and has been getting) from small and even tiny proprietary schools:
“The conflict started in January when a Virginia [SCHEV] official directed regulators from more than a dozen states to an online national registry of schools that teach yoga and, in the words of a Kansas official, earn a ‘handsome income.’“
SCHEV regulators have been grabbing for money from small schools in any way they can without any regard for what is appropriate and fair. SCHEV currently requires that any proprietary school that provides job skill certification training that grosses anywhere from $1 (that’s one dollar) to $50,000.00 per year pay an annual “fee” of $500. This means that a training school has to pay SCHEV at least $500 every year, even if it grosses only $10. In addition, schools have to pay for a surety bond and they have to complete financial forms that probably require the help of an accountant–an additional expense. This is an undue hardship on a number of small and tiny schools and programs. (When SCHEV first took over supervision of proprietary schools a few years ago they imposed an exorbitant rate hike on small schools– a $1500 annual “fee.” It was only through external pressure that SCHEV eventually reduced the fee to $500 for schools grossing $50,000 or less each year.)
At the other end of the spectrum, schools that make a lot of money do very well when it comes to the annual recertification “fees.” The fee for a school that grosses anywhere over $150,000 is $2500. So if a school grosses twenty million dollars annually, it only has to pay $2500 annually. So rich schools, in effect, get a huge discount and pay a nominal fee, while very small schools have to pay a much higher percentage of their gross income. See page 28 at http://www.schev.edu/AdminFaculty/iApproval/final%20regs%208-24-06.pdf .
SCHEV has an extensive list of regulations and required paperwork that is mostly based on a one-size, one-kind fits all type of policy intended for large schools–colleges and universities. A number of these requirements and forms make little sense and are an undue burden for small and tiny schools. In 2007, SCHEV conducted on-site audits of 31 proprietary schools, including schools against which there had been no complaints, and claimed that schools had committed 177 violations of these regulations. They charged the schools a $1000 “administrative fee” for each violation–a profit of $177,000.00. See http://www.schev.edu/SCHEV/AgendaBooks/2008Jan/AgendaBookJan08.pdf on pages 20 and 21.
The SCHEV fees these schools pay are in addition to the federal and state income taxes and business license taxes that they are already paying.
In order to make money, Virginia is squeezing whatever it can out of well-intentioned and responsible small proprietary schools and programs–to the point of damaging them–rather than protecting consumers and students.