NJ: We're No. 50!

Yet another national study has concluded New Jersey is unfriendly to business. The latest group to arrive at that conclusion is the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, which ranked New Jersey as the worst state in the nation to operate a small business.

The council considered 29 factors, most of them related to taxation, in developing its Small Business Survival Index. New Jersey fared poorly in most areas. We have the fifth highest top personal income tax rate, the third highest top capital gains tax rate, the sixth highest top corporate tax rate and the second highest property taxes as a percentage of personal income. (We have the highest average property tax bill). We also have the 11th highest electric utility costs.

In addition, New Jersey also has the 16 highest number of government bureaucrats, per-capita. And every state that ranks higher than New Jersey but one - New York - have much smaller populations.

New Jersey fares better than the median state in only a handful of areas. We have the third lowest state gasoline tax in the nation and the seventh lowest crime rate.

Here's a link to the full report: http://www.sbsc.org/Media/pdf/SBSI_2006.pdf