Forbes Magazine just ranked the "Best States For Business," and I for one am outraged at the 44th-place ranking Wisconsin received.
And before we all point the proverbial finger at someone else for this, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves. We are not good at doing what need to be done to attract new business to the state and promote and nurture the businesses that are already here.
How is it that the state with the 8th-best quality of life ranking (in the same article) cannot be more attractive to business? High taxes? Not really. We are up there, but so are states ranked in the top 10. Growth? Not as bad as some. Production? Nope, we do well here. Marketing? No, we spend a fair amount.
The numbers don’t tell the story. We do.
The real problem is that we are far better at complaining than we are at promoting. Virginia, Utah and Washington, the "leaders" and movers on the list, are committed to talking about their success stories. These states promote their quality of life, they encourage business to visit and test the waters, they respect growth and they have enlisted their existing businesses as partners in all out self-promotion. We seem to enlist our businesses to complain about the status quo. It now appears that other sates are hearing the message and staying away.
So, how do we fix this? Simple. First, change the message. Second, change the messenger. We cannot rely on Madison or a public relations firm to repair the damage. We need to fix this.
I issue a personal challenge to all of us. Call someone outside the state and tell them why Wisconsin is in fact a great place to do business. Then quietly call your state and local officials and tell them to prove you right!
Ken Harwood of Verona, Wis., is a commercial real estate broker with Park Towne Development. He is the Editor of News and Notes and www.WisconsinDevelopment.com, both electronic news outlets for economic development in the state. He also is the former mayor of Neenah and is currently a member of the Verona City Council. He may be reached at editor@WisconsinDevelopment.com.
2 Comments
"How about no income tax at all on people over 65? People would continue working, remain healthier, not be an economic and social drain on society. Then the elderly would also have more disposable income to help charitable activities."
Sir John Templeton -
This is the kind of forward thinking that is needed in Wisconsin. Fact; Wisconsin has High property taxes, high income taxes, high health care costs, and overly agressive DNR.
All of these drains on the Wisconsin Citizen make for bad public relations. When your neighbors in Illinois pay 30% to 50% less per $1000 in property tax rates while receiving the same or better services, we have a PR problem. When seniors move out of state because Wisconsin is among the lowest ranked econimoc climates for them, we have a PR problem. When the Governor and State Senate propose huge tax increases across the board while business continues to move out of state, we have a PR problem.
Wisconsin politicians on both sides of the isle need to decide if we as a state are socialists or not.
Business will invest in geographic areas that offer open arms only if the economic climate is attractive. We can open our arms all we want, but untill we address our states systemic financial problems, business will invest elsware.
"The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit."
Milton Friedman -
I agree with the first comment- we have a systemic problem in Wisconsin of ever-expanding taxes and governmental entities. To say taxes are not a problem is like putting lipstick on a pig.
Not to mention a general anti-business climate- i.e. supreme court (lead paint case), DNR (butler snakes, Menards), and City of Milwaukee (anti-freeway growth, Men. Valley-nixed internet company).
Its easy to be optimistic, if like the writer, you are located in Madison, which is an island of continual growth and few social problems due to being fed by the rest of the state to support the state government and UW-Madison there. Unfortunately, the rest of the state cannot be like Madison. The money has to come from somewhere.
Our taxes are outrageously high, especially when you consider our median income level is not that high. Instead of pulling back, the dems/socialists currently want a huge tax increase. Doyle believes being pro-business means handing out govt. tax breaks for a select few businesses. Lowering taxes for all of us is not an option on his part.
The market speaks for itself, if Wisconsin was such an attraction for business, we would know about it. Most businesses do a fair amount of research before they relocate and obviously they are not flocking to Wisconsin.
With high taxes and lousy weather for several months of the year, why would you locate your business here instead of say Colorado, Georgia, or Washington state- states with lower taxes and better climates? Don't say the university system. Because outside of a few specialized areas at UW-Madison, the UW system has not been an attraction. Besides, well-educated professionals and business creators are mobile and with all things being equal will go to places with better climates or more vibrant metro areas.
What I'm saying is that we should at least be competitive with other states when it comes to taxes. And by competitive I mean we should try to have our tax structure as an attraction, not a deterrent. Maybe then we can compete on our life-style attributes.