[...]... distress It’s worse yet to enact policies that have been proved to fail in other states Every year, our analysis ranks the states on economic competitiveness by using 15 fiscal and regulatory policy variables Throughout the years we have constructed 22 Rich States, Poor States the ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index, several of those variables have consistently stood out as the most important... dropped 12 spots, and Missouri, which gained 18 spots However, Indiana did not get the benefit of its corporate income tax reduction or right-to-work legislation as of this publication Therefore we expect to see it recover from its steep drop in next year’s rankings Ohio and North Dakota saw significant FIGURE 2 | Rich States, Poor States from the Beginning 2008-2012 Source: Rich States, Poor States editions... arena, do high tax states fare better than low tax states? The data over the last decade says no As we explain in the next chapter, low tax states consistently outperform high tax states Over the last decade, the nine states without an income tax have outperformed the nine states with the highest income tax, by every measure Low tax states beat the national average, and high tax states fail to live... success To commemorate this fifth edition of Rich States, Poor States, we wanted to take a look back to see how the states have fared since the initial edition We wanted to highlight a few states that stood out from the rest, particularly those proving to be movers and shakers That is to say, they have shown the most movement in our ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index over the last five years Since our... Million in Tax Relief.” Tax Analysts April 28, 2011 35 Ibid 36 Ebeling, Ashlea “Where Not to Die in 2012.” Forbes December 22, 2011 18 Rich States, Poor States PAVING THE PATH TO PROSPERITY 37 Laffer, Arthur B., Moore, Stephen, and Williams, Jonathan Rich States, Poor States, 4th ed.  American Legislative Exchange Council 2011 38 Paulsen, Kraig “A Historic Week For Property Taxpayers.” Press Release... income, which hides the economic losses of high tax states IRS data shows that people who leave high tax states for better opportunities have incomes below the state median When they move, the median income of their former home states goes up while the median of their new home states goes down Their former home states have lost economic activity, due to high tax rates that hinder economic opportunity... States Components of the ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index Throughout this book we are going to analyze specific state policies in ways that provide comparisons of what the state in question is doing relative to the policies of the other states To isolate the impact of a policy change in one state we are going to standardize for what the other states are doing While a state s policies are... getting too deep into the data for now, we can tell you that the record of the no income tax states is far better Some of the leaders of three states in America’s heartland understand this fact and are working to repeal their state s personal income tax The Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs 10 Rich States, Poor States (OCPA), with Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics, recently released a policy paper... publication, 2 Rich States, Poor States numerous states seek to become more competitive in these uncertain economic times Lessons from the Laboratories If we had to summarize the findings of this publication and our comparative analysis of state policy in one sentence, it would be this: Be more like Texas and less like California Of course, California has become the primary example of how not to govern a state. .. 2010 people and businesses to move to lower tax states, and those people take their tax revenues with them State tax policies play a significant role in determining which states prosper and which states fall behind in terms of economic performance Over the last decade, on net, more than 4.2 million individuals have moved out of the 10 states with the highest state and local tax burdens (measured as a percentage . alt="" Rich States, Poor States ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index Arthur B. Laffer Stephen Moore Jonathan Williams ii Rich States, Poor States Rich. Dakota saw significant FIGURE 2 | Rich States, Poor States from the Beginning 2008-2012 Source: Rich States, Poor States edions one through ve www.alec.org