Missouri Tax System: Business-Friendly
The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan educational
organization designed to inform taxpayers, lawmakers and the media
about tax policy, recently released its 2007 State Business Tax
Climate Index. The report ranked Missouri’s business tax climate
first among all its neighboring states and 15th among all
states plus the District of Columbia, with a score of 5.65.
The index arrives at an overall score by measuring 113 different
parts of a state’s tax climate grouped within five components:
corporate tax, individual income tax, sales tax, unemployment
insurance tax and property tax. The five components are then added
to measure each state’s tax climate, from zero (worst) to 10 (best).
Wyoming and South Dakota had the highest scores, with a 7.66 and
7.57, respectively. Rounding out the top ten are Alaska, Nevada,
Florida, Texas, New Hampshire, Montana, Delaware and Oregon.
Missouri ranks first among adjacent states. In fact, Missouri is the
only state in the country to rank higher than 12th in
four of the five components and higher than 24th in all
five.
| State | Score | Overall Rank | Corporate Tax | Individual Income Tax | Sales Tax | Unemployment Insurance Tax | Property Tax |
| Arkansas | 4.88 | 35 | 36 | 30 | 38 | 35 | 9 |
| Illinois | 5.23 | 25 | 30 | 13 | 32 | 36 | 40 |
| Iowa | 4.56 | 43 | 46 | 45 | 19 | 27 | 33 |
| Kansas | 5.04 | 31 | 38 | 23 | 25 | 12 | 34 |
| Kentucky | 4.76 | 39 | 43 | 39 | 11 | 48 | 11 |
| Missouri | 5.65 | 15 | 10 | 24 | 12 | 7 | 10 |
| Nebraska | 4.53 | 44 | 34 | 32 | 44 | 26 | 45 |
| Oklahoma | 5.45 | 21 | 13 | 25 | 34 | 1 | 20 |
| Tennessee | 5.49 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 48 | 33 | 37 |
The Tax Foundation’s 2007 State Business Tax Climate
can be accessed at
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp52.pdf
For a look at other states’ vs. Missouri’s business climate, visit
the Business Climate Comparison tool at
http://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/bcc/index.stm
Source: Tax Foundation
Report by Michael Muin, map by Melissa Lanclos
