| This new gimmick from the GOP is pretty hilarious. Following Oregon voters' decision to raise corporate minimum taxes from $10 per year and to increase taxes on high income individuals, Republicans are pushing for the Governor's office to target Oregon businesses to relocate.
Senator Dave Lewis goes so far to mention some Oregon businesses that raised concerns about the measure. One business listed was The Oregonian, the newspaper. It would be fascinating to see Portland's newspaper make the move to Montana (similarly fascinating to watch yet another newspaper break radically with the mainstream political views of the community from which it expects subscription revenue).
So why is this a gimmick? I don't have a problem with convincing Oregon business owners to move their businesses to Montana. But let's not pretend that tax burden alone makes for the basis of business location decision-making. Energy costs, labor costs, labor quality (tied to quality of life), size of labor market, regulatory environment, etc., all are hugely, hugely important.
We should be poaching business from Alabama and Wyoming as well.
Anyways, I'm pretty well sold that we could use some meaningful tax reform in Montana, but the other bottom-line is that we're already looking at a tough budget situation next biennium. As of yet, I haven't seen a Republican proposal to deal with that. There's lots of rhetoric out there about tightening belts and spending cuts. Meanwhile, Brian Schweitzer is actually doing something about all of this.
Fewer gimmicks. More governance. Por favor (that's Spanish). |
