Dominic Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch

“It is time that we, as Florida taxpayers, imagine a more competitive Florida," said Dominic Calabro, who is the president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. "Let's focus this legislative session on removing barriers to our state's competitiveness. And policymakers at all levels of government should focus their efforts on strengthening our foundation for growth and addressing the areas that constrain it, to help lead Florida to economic recovery and future prosperity."

The report, which compiles rankings of the state’s economic competitiveness from different sources, is entitled “State Competitiveness Indices & Rankings: What National Rankings Tell Us about Florida's Competitiveness.”

Calabro presented it to the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee Wednesday afternoon, updating previous reports at the committee staff’s request.

“Since this year is about jobs, jobs, jobs and economic development, we wanted to know how we compare to other states,” said Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, the chairwoman of the committee.

“The purpose of today’s meeting is information for us,” added Detert, who said the committee was gathering data on luring jobs and crafting the budget.


“Policymakers at all levels should focus on strengthening our foundations for growth,” said Calabro as he reviewed the report.

The report drew upon rankings from seven organizations -- American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC); the Beacon Hill Institute; CNBC; Forbes; the Kauffman Foundation; Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council; and the Tax Foundation -- for the 50 states in terms of economic competitiveness, and found mixed results.

“Between the seven indices, Florida is ranked among both the top 10 states as well as the bottom half of states for its competitiveness nationally,” Florida TaxWatch noted in the report. “The variability in these rankings is caused by the different factors of the business climate being considered by each index and the different weights assigned to those measures. For this reason, more detailed analysis is warranted.”


While ALEC, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council and the Tax Foundation all ranked the Sunshine State as one of the six most economically competitive states in the nation, the other rankings gave Florida lower marks. While the Beacon Hill Institute study ranked Florida 12th, the results of the CNBC, Forbes and Kauffman Foundation studies all placed the Sunshine State in the 20s. CNBC gave Florida the lowest marks, ranking it as the 28th most economically competitive state in the nation.

In his comments before the committee, Calabro touched on the methodology of the seven rankings.

“Essentially it comes to what they measure and how they weigh it,” Calabro told the committee.

The report examined how the state matched up with neighboring states -- which Florida TaxWatch defined as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

The report highlighted a number of Florida’s strengths in attracting businesses, including the lack of a state income tax and low labor costs.

But the report also found room for improvement in the Sunshine State. It maintained that, when it came to business taxes, “Florida’s overall tax burden was found to be higher (more costly to business) than the rest of the nation and its neighboring states.”

The TaxWatch study gave Florida mixed reviews on the corporate income tax.