Texas Named Best State for Business 12-Years Running

For the 12th consecutive year, Chief Executive Magazine named Texas the nation’s best state for business. This year’s accolades come at a time when even more businesses either expanded their operations or relocated their headquarters to the Lone Star State.

In response to the announcement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, “For the 12th straight year, CEOs across America have agreed there is no place better for conducting business than Texas.”

He added: “Our winning formula is simple – low taxes, reasonable regulations and investment in a quality workforce. As Governor, I will continue to promote policies that attract businesses looking to expand or relocate their operations, ultimately creating even more jobs and opportunity for Texans.”

The business publication surveyed 513 CEOs nationwide to rank states based on business climate, taxes and regulations, workforce quality, and affordable housing which also factored in the cost of living, quality of public education, crime rates, and local attitudes toward business.

In addition to leading the nation, Texas topped the Southwest region in the magazine’s rankings, placing first overall in areas of taxation and regulation, workforce quality, and living environment. Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma placed behind Texas as the other top five Southwest states.

“In Texas, free enterprise flourishes thanks to our low taxes, reasonable regulations and right-to-work laws, and I look forward to Texas’ continued growth as a North American hub for global trade and investment,” Abbott said in response to the announcement that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will move its subsidiary headquarters from New York to southwest Houston.

The publication pointed out that despite hits the state took in the shale energy bust, Texas still remains “held in high esteem by CEOs for its favorable economic reforms.”

Last Wednesday, Abbott announced Italy-based SATA Group, a high-tech components manufacturer, will build a new machinery plant in Brownsville, a South Texas city, expected to create 300 jobs. The company will invest $114 million into the Texas operation while the state offered a $1.8 million incentive through the Texas Enterprise Fund, an incentive designed to attract new companies or to help expand existing Texas companies with the goal of creating more state jobs and stirring economic growth.

Then, on Thursday, California’s Jamba Juice said it will relocate its headquarters to Frisco, a Dallas suburb that is also home to the Dallas Cowboys. The football team’s corporate headquarters and state-of-the-art practice facility are scheduled to open this summer. A Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant of $800,000 was extended to the Emeryville-based company that expects to employ over 100 people, including newly hired Texas team members.

In March, Breitbart Texas reported that between 2008 and 2014, California corporations accounted for 15 percent or 219 of companies that moved their headquarters or expanded their operations into Texas. California transplants include McKesson Corporation, Pegasus Foods, Toyota, Liberty Mutual, Kubota, JP Morgan Chase, State Farm, Farmer Brothers and Raytheon. In 2015, Texas placed second on the Fortune 500 list, with 54 companies, edging out California, which had 53. New York came in first.

According to the CEO magazine, Florida ranked second to Texas in the survey results. The Sunshine State added 1 million private-sector jobs over the last five years, cutting taxes 50 times, and unloading 4,200 “burdensome regulations,” surpassing New York as the third-biggest state for companies to flourish.

This marks the 12th consecutive year that Texas and Florida topped the list. Rounding out the Top 10 behind Texas and Florida were North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, and Ohio.

The bottom 10, states considered the worst for doing business included Michigan, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Illinois and New York placed 48th and 49th, respectively, as business unfriendly states; however, California ranked dead last mainly for its hostile business environment, heavy regulations and burdensome taxation.

Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.