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Home » News » News » Maine Remains Near the Bottom in Forbes Business Report
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Maine Remains Near the Bottom in Forbes Business Report

Nathan StroutBy Nathan StroutNovember 13, 20143 Comments2 Mins Read
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In the newest iteration of Forbes’ Best States for Business report, Maine ranked 49th—one place higher than last year.  In fact, Maine has ranked dead last for the past four years.

The 2014 Best States for Business report is the 9th edition of the influential Forbes analysis.  The report gathers data from all 50 states, and compares them through six economic categories: “costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.”

Utah was the top ranked state this year, followed by North Dakota, North Carolina, and Virginia.  On the other end of the list, Mississippi dropped down to last place, pushing Maine to the 49th spot.

“The state still suffers from a high tax burden and lousy economic forecast,” said Kurt Badenhausen.  “Job and income growth are expected to be among the slowest in the U.S. through 2018.”

This reflects Maine’s low ranking in both the Economic Climate and Growth Prospects categories.  Maine’s best category was Quality of Life, where the state ranked 27th.  Still, Maine did not score in the top half in any category.  In Business Costs, the most heavily weighted category, Maine scored in the bottom ten.

“Much of the blame for the poor showing in recent years can be placed on the state’s high corporate tax burden and lousy job and economic growth forecast,” said Badenhausen.

In a recent report, the Tax Foundation ranked Maine 45th for its corporate tax structure.

Maine’s category rankings are as follows:

Business Costs: 40th

Labor Supply: 36th

Regulatory Environment: 45th

Economic Climate: 48th

Growth Prospects: 48th

Quality of Life: 27th

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Nathan Strout
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Nathan Strout is a Development Associate with The Maine Heritage Policy Center as well as a staff writer for The Maine Wire. Born and raised in Portland, Strout is a graduate of Eastern University with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Legal Studies.

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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="9823 http://www.themainewire.com/?p=9823">3 Comments

  1. Frank J. Heller on November 14, 2014 1:06 PM

    Maine has an abundance of industrial and retail space for entrepreneurs and companies; it offers many amenities that attract entrepreneurs. BUT, it also has a regulatory environment which not only stifles innovation, but makes it very expensive. Ironically, Maine has an entire industry built around dealing with environmental regulations, i.e. E2TECH is the association that represents them and the larger ones, like Normandeau work, throughout the U.S.

  2. Frank J. Heller on November 14, 2014 1:06 PM

    Maine has an abundance of industrial and retail space for entrepreneurs and companies; it offers many amenities that attract entrepreneurs. BUT, it also has a regulatory environment which not only stifles innovation, but makes it very expensive. Ironically, Maine has an entire industry built around dealing with environmental regulations, i.e. E2TECH is the association that represents them and the larger ones, like Normandeau work, throughout the U.S.

  3. Wayne Emerton on November 19, 2014 5:09 AM

    We are near the bottom in no small part because of energy cost and Angus king is going to vote no on keystone to support his wind power friends. He doesn’t care if his vote keeps your heat and power cost high.

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