[gamblor956]

The rankings are heavily biased against tax rates and employee's rights. They focus on the factors that are related to cutting costs, while ignoring the factors that are related to generating revenues or operating the business, such as access to capital, trained/educated/trainable employees, and customers.

California and New York, both frequently at the bottom of such lists, have all 3 in spades, which is why they're great for businesses that engage in active business activities (sales or services). The states at the "top" of the lists are great for businesses that depend heavily on the exploitation of labor and cost-cutting to generate revenue or growth.

I represent quite a few companies that left California for tax reasons, and ended up coming back. They lost more businesses than they saved in taxes by moving to "business friendly" states.