The only thing more frigid than the weather in Massachusetts these days is the business climate. A stream of companies have announced they are relocating from Taxachusetts — and not just for milder weather.
SynQor, which builds power converters, is bringing about 250 jobs north to New Hampshire. Analogic, which designs and manufactures advanced medical imaging, ultrasound systems and security detection technologies, is taking another 500 jobs to the Granite State as it packs up its Peabody headquarters.
The Bay State isn’t just losing companies in biotech. Last month, the state’s crunchiest consumer product announced it will close its plant in Hyannis, cutting 49 jobs in the process. The Cape Cod Potato Chips factory only produced 4 percent of the company’s product, but production is expanding in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Gov. Maura Healey (D) bragged in her State of the Commonwealth address that TransMedics, which produces technology to preserve organs, “turned down New Hampshire and decided to grow right here in Massachusetts.” Yet the company stayed because of a $36 million tax incentive deal. Why not just provide a better tax climate for all firms? It would be more efficient, and fairer, than having the government pick winners and losers.
It’s no surprise Massachusetts has had the worst post-pandemic recovery in private sector job growth of anywhere in New England.
The Tax Foundation just ranked Massachusetts 43rd for tax competitiveness due to income, property and unemployment insurance taxes. The latest Census migration data shows the state has had a net loss of 164,000 residents over the last four years, with Florida and New Hampshire the top two beneficiaries. Not coincidentally, the Tax Foundation ranks those states fifth and third on competitiveness.
By driving up taxes, Massachusetts could also be driving away desperately needed innovators. Some biotech leaders have been sounding the alarm that the state’s 4 percent “millionaire’s tax” is pushing entrepreneursout of the state, corroding what has been one of its greatest engines for growth.
All this spells trouble for a governor who wants to keep businesses at home but remains unwilling to cut her state’s budget.
The post It’s Taxachusetts for a reason appeared first on Washington Post.
