Report says Nevada tax system ranks highly for entrepreneurship and small business

By Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau: A new business index evaluating the states on the effects of their tax systems on entrepreneurship and small business ranks Nevada 3^rd behind South Dakota and Texas.

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council’s “Business Tax Index 2012” pulls together 18 different tax measures, and combines them into one tax score that allows the 50 states and District of Columbia to be compared and ranked.

Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the SBE Council and author of the report, said: “All taxes matter, whether imposed at the federal, state or local level of government. They matter to consumers, entrepreneurs, investors and businesses. State and local levies matter in terms of a state’s competitiveness. And they matter when it comes to economic growth and job creation.”

Business Tax Index 2012: State Rankings

Among the measures used to create the rankings are each state’s top personal income tax rate, top individual capital gains tax rate, top corporate income tax rate, property taxes, sales and excise taxes and unemployment taxes.

Nevada does not have either a personal or corporate income tax and was rated highly in these categories. The state did not do as well in the property tax ranking, coming in 33^rd as a share of personal income, 47^th on sales and excise taxes and 36^th on unemployment taxes.

The report compares favorably with another analysis recently released by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The fifth edition of “Rich States, Poor States,” ranked Nevada 18^th among states in its ability to compete and grow its economy.

Minnesota ranked last among states in the SBE Council analysis.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has made job creation a top priority of his administration. Earlier this year he announced a goal of creating 50,000 jobs in the state by the end of 2014.

The state recently released its economic development and diversification plan for the state.

Nevada leads the nation in unemployment, with a 12 percent rate reported in March. While the rate has fallen for seven consecutive months, recent improvements are due primarily to discouraged workers who have given up looking for work.

“As we’ve noted previously, it became quite apparent during the most recent recession that Nevada’s economic fortunes are very much tied to the U.S. economy,” said Bill Anderson, chief economist for the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR), when the March report was released last week. “For the state’s modestly improving labor market to continue to strengthen, underlying fundamentals in the U.S. economy must be favorable.”

The SBE Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy and research organization dedicated to protecting small business and promoting entrepreneurship.