L.A. Not Business-Friendly
The Kosmont-Rose Institute has announced the results of its twelfth annual Cost of Doing Business survey. The Institute found that the "Los Angeles business tax reduction is cosmetic, leaving the city as a high-cost community for corporate America."The survey reviewed businesses' taxes, fees and incentives in 398 cities in 49 states. Los Angeles is the nation's 16th most expensive city.
You can read all about it in the Daily News.
Posted by Walter Moore @ 7/04/2006 10:09:00 AM
15 Comments:
Big whooping "duh". . .
Here's another breaking news item. It's hot as hell outside.
No New TAXES!!!!
L.A. be hatin' on small businesses, true dat!
C U in Tucson! WORD!
In a stunning upset, Germany has failed to reach the World Cup final, conceding two goals against Italy in the final two minutes of extra time.
Germany had an outstanding attack, but in their way was Gianluigi Buffon, perhaps the best goalkeeper in the world.
Three cheers for Germany, thank you for making us dream for the past month.
DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLES!!!
World Cup = z z z z z z
Deutschland uber alles inded!
What's a World Cup?
Is it like an Athletic Cup?
LA Business Tax is designed to drive big business from Los Angeles; it has succeeded.
There are no Fortune 100 companies left in LA; hell, there are no Fortune 500 companies either.
Gone are ARCO, B of A, and many more too numerous to mention. And, with them, the JOBS.
Any of you doofuses in the City Council get it?
Simplify and reduce the tax burden on the ones you have left; more will come. Duh.
How 'bout those fucking Italians, showed the Nazis a thing or two, huh? And in their own country, I love it!
Crack-lover, you're an idiot. Go through the Fortune 500 again. Last count there were at least five in LA (including KB Home, SunAmerica, Occidental Petroleum, and Northrop). Most job growth comes from small businesses anyway, and these are the ones reaping the tax relief the city passed. City needs to do more, though, like getting around these NIMBYites who won't let any new project get built in their neighborhood.
Five companies out of 500, in the second-biggest city in America, is nothing to brag about. How many are in New York? Atlanta?
Don't kid yourself: imposing higher taxes and greater burdens on business than other cities isn't a great way to create good jobs. Having 500 "roach coach" businesses in the city is not as good as having an aerospace company that employs 500 engineers.
Arco and B of A became merged with other companies headquartered else where.
And B of A was headquartered in San Francisco.
When it comes to L.A. not being "business-friendly" the quality-of-life for employees is just as important as tax rates.
Have you given any thought to the fact that high housing prices keep companies away? Top execs are the only ones who could afford to live here, with their employees forced to go out to Palmdale or Beaumont. That means a 2 hour commute each way on crappy freeways, and who wants that?
A lot of Fortune 500 companies are in Manhattan because it is the financial capital of the world, and L.A. never has been and never will be. Also, folks can buy cheaper homes in NJ or Conneticut and take the trains in. A lot of big companies (e.g. Toyota) are going to places like Nashville because of good housing and good traffic. B of A went to Charlotte, NC. These days, you don't need to be in a big city to run a big company.
If you want engineers instead of roach coaches, do something about housing affordability and traffic, not just taxes.
Nissan USA (not Toyota) went to Nashville to be near its production facilities and to make recruiting managers easier. (It's hard to bring even junior executives in from outside the region when they're confronted with million-dollar 1950s tract houses.) Virtually all of the automobile plants in the United States--both "domestic" and "foreign"--are within a 90-minute drive of I-75, which runs from Detroit to (IIRC) Birmingham, AL.
Bank of America did not move; it was bought by NationsBank, a Charlotte bank that assumed the BofA name because it's a more recognizable brand. (Same thing with Wells Fargo vis-a-vis Minneapolis-based Norwest.) Two of the nation's five biggest banks (BofA and Wachovia) are headquartered in Charlotte because North Carolina traditionally had a very loose banking regulatory regime.
Having corporate headquarters doesn't mean an awful lot anymore, BTW. The New York Times had an article about that a few days ago. A lot of companies are moving their HQs to Manhattan but bring only a few hundred employees (and usually fewer) with them. Boeing HQ's heavily subsidized relocation from Seattle to my hometown of Chicago was greeted with a resounding shrug of the city's big shoulders, since it brought only about 1000 jobs with it and the Loop isn't exactly hurting for business these days.
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