Business-friendly Tennessee ranks third in study
Tuesday July 20, 2010
A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce study ranks Tennessee third...
A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce study ranks Tennessee third among all states for its low business taxes and minimal red tape - a corporate-friendly combination that an author of the report says helped the state see a net gain of 260,000 residents since 2001.
"Americans are voting with their feet and they're choosing Tennessee," said Mark Schill, an associate with Praxis Strategy Group, which worked on the chamber's economic development study of how state policies can affect job creation.
The U.S. Chamber shared details of its report at a two-hour roundtable staged at Nissan North America's headquarters in Franklin, an event that featured a dozen or more corporate executives critiquing economic policy here.
Gov. Phil Bredesen took part and heard a litany of praise from executives representing Eastman Chemical, Nissan North America, DuPont, Hemlock Semiconductor and others.
"For us, the very pro-business environment in the state is a major reason we're here," said Scott Becker, Nissan's senior vice president of administration and finance. Becker said Nissan's decision to move its North American headquarters to Tennessee from California within the past decade was driven by the low-tax landscape here as well as a desire to set up shop closer to the car maker's U.S. dealers along the East Coast and suppliers in the Southeast.
Schill said advantages that Tennessee offers new and expanding business include: tax credits for job creation, particularly if a company plans to pump $100 million or more into a project that creates 100 or more positions. Other incentives that play a role in drawing new businesses are incentive programs for bringing a corporate headquarters here and modest workers' salaries.
Tennessee has seen strong growth in medical equipment and supplies, other health-care jobs, new initiatives linked to solar energy and value-added agriculture or food manufacturing, the study said.
Terry Strange, site manager for polysilicon and solar energy firm Hemlock Semiconductor, said a state and Tennessee Valley Authority mega-site program - which certifies industrial sites as ready for corporate development - cut by one-third Hemlock's costs and time of crafting plans to build a $1 billion plant near Clarksville to make products used in solar panels.
Source: The Tennessean
