The Center Square
June 24, 2021
Florida finished second in a study by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that examined the 50 states’ economic outlooks based on 15 policy measures.
The economic outlook ranking for Florida examined such variables as top marginal personal income tax rate (0 percent) and top marginal corporate income tax rate (4.5 percent). Other measures examined include property and sales tax burdens, existence of estate or inheritance taxes, debt service as a percentage of tax revenue and the number of public employees per 10,000 people.
The study titled “Rich States, Poor States” also ranked states based on their economic performances from 2009 to 2019. In that assessment, Florida ranked fifth.
The state’s cumulative gross domestic product from 2009 to 2019, its overall loss of population to other states between 2009 and 2019 and nonagricultural job growth from 2009 to 2019 determined how it fared in the economic performance ranking.
When viewing this data, readers should know that 98 percent of ALEC’s funding comes from large international corporations such as Mobil-Exxon and trade associations such as PhARMA. Therefore, it is not surprising most of the factors on which they base this outlook are related to tax rates and not factors like GDP, employment, median salaries, etc. The best example of their bias is California, the FIFTH largest economy in the world (annual GDP of $3.3 trillion), which they rank 45th in their outlook, compared to a state like North Dakota. which they rank 8th with a GDP of $57 billion. The Koch Brothers Foundation, which is also a major ALEC contributor, championed the supply side, anti-tax movements in Kansas, Minnesota and Louisiana which bankrupted those states. The evidence is in. ALEC’s rating is a better indicator of underfunded education and crumbling infrastructure than it is of economic growth.
why print this right wing rubbish? low taxes doesn’t mean a good place to live or start a business..a fair and balanced Government with good employers who pay a liveable wage