NH Has 8th Best Business Climate in The Nation

New Hampshire is the 8th best state in the countryfor taxes on business, according to the newest edition of the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index.

Not in its 10th edition, the State Business Tax Climate Index collects data on more than 100 tax provisions for each state and synthesizes them into a single score. The states are then compared against each other, so that each state’s ranking is relative to actual policies in place in other states around the country. A state’s ranking can rise or fall significantly based not just on its own actions, but on the changes or reforms made by other states.

The top 10 states in 2014 are Wyoming (#1), South Dakota (#2), Nevada (#3), Alaska (#4), Florida (#5), Washington (#6), Montana (#7), New Hampshire (#8), Utah (#9), and Indiana (#10).

The 10 lowest ranked states in 2014 are Maryland (#41), Connecticut (#42), Wisconsin (#43), North Carolina (#44), Vermont (#45), Rhode Island (#46), Minnesota (#47), California (#48), New Jersey (#49), and New York (#50).

Several states moved in the rankings since last year, with Texas dropping out of the top ten for the first time, landing at #11, and Virginia and Kentucky both falling three places to #26 and #27, respectively. On the positive side, Arizona climbed five ranks to #22 and Kansas shot up six spots to #20. Several other states also saw smaller changes.

"The states that lost ground this year usually did so because they changed policy in a way that makes the tax code more complex, burdensome, or economically harmful," Tax Foundation economist Scott Drenkard said in a statement. "By contrast, the states that improved did so because they are moved closer to a tax code that collects revenue without unnecessarily distorting business decisions. Their tax codes became more neutral."

The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan research organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.