Ohio 39th in State Business Tax Climate Index, worse than neighboring states

The Tax Foundation has released its 2012 State Business Tax Climate Index and Ohio finds itself still in the bottom at 39th in the nation, unchanged from last year.

The 10 best states are:

1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Nevada
4. Alaska
5. Florida
6. New Hampshire
7. Washington
8. Montana
9. Texas
10. Utah

They earn these positions primarily because they don't impose some or several of the taxes calculated.

The 10 worse states are:

41. Iowa

42. Maryland
43. Wisconsin
44. North Carolina
45. Minnesota
46. Rhode Island
47. Vermont
48. California
49. New York
50. New Jersey

Ohio ranked:

* 22 in corporate tax rate

* 42 in individual income tax

* 29 in sales tax

* 10 in unemployment insurance tax

* 33 in property tax.

Michigan, our neighbor to the north, ranked 18, up from 19 in 2011. While their corporate tax rank is 49 (the second worse in the nation) and their unemployment insurance tax rank is 44, they rank 11 in individual income tax, 7 in sales tax
and 30 in property tax, moving them ahead of Ohio in the overall rankings.

Indiana, which is expected to be a right-to-work state upon the governor's signature of recently-passed legislation, is ranked 11, also unchanged from 2011. Pennsylvania is 19, up from 21 in 2011 and Kentucky is 27, up from a 25 rank last year.

Sadly, all our neighbors rank better than we do in business taxation and they are our competition for jobs.

For more information on the rankings and methodology, you can read the entire report here.