Survey Says: Get a good laugh

Here's something sure to make a Florida manufacturing executive chuckle: The Sunshine State is said to be one of the friendliest in the country when it comes to tax climate for manufacturing companies.

In fact, Florida is tied for the best tax policy and structure in the country with four other states: Indiana, Missouri, Montana and Utah. That's the word according to the 2010 Manufacturing and Logistics Report Card, which was prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University in Indiana.

The tax part of the report card is based partially on individual income taxes, which could explain Florida's high marks to some extent. Yet other states with no individual income tax, such as Texas and Washington, scored a C in the category, so Florida's triumph clearly has some heft, according to the researchers.

“There is a great deal of pent up angst to expand or update existing manufacturing facilities or to simply build new ones,” says the director of the research center, Michael Hicks, in a statement. “Those states with low tax rates and policies favorable to business creation will be the first to see new facilities in the next 18 to 24 months.”

Nonetheless, even the report's authors' hedge their predictions for the state.

For example, Florida scores a C or below on the report card's eight other categories, including a D in manufacturing capabilities. That category looked at a stateFs total income earned by manufacturing employees; the wage premium paid to manufacturing workers relative to the other states' employees; and the share of manufacturing employment per capita.