Best State for Business? Yes, California
There are plenty of reasons to presume that California must be a bad place to do business. The Tax Foundation says the state's tax structure is the third worst for business in the U.S. Forbes ranks California's business costs fifth highest among the 50 states and its regulatory environment the eighth most burdensome.
Why then does the market, where buyers and sellers determine relative value, show otherwise? California-based companies surpass their competitors in the U.S. by most measures of performance favored by investors.
Since January 2011, when Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr., became governor for the third time, the 63 publicly traded California companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 produced the best total return among the five states with the largest populations. California companies in the S&P 500 delivered returns of 134 percent
(. . .)
Companies domiciled in California also outperformed the S&P 500 during the past four years by a margin of 23 percent. Among the California industries making the state No. 1 in business are health care, returning 267 percent, consumer staples (302 percent), specialty pharma (235 percent), energy (30 percent) and biotech (333 percent).
Maybe high taxes and strong regulations don't daunt business leaders if well spent and well aimed.
