Texas Belies `Best for Business' by Trailing Major States
Low taxes and few regulations have failed to propel the economy anywhere near the top of the national rankings.
Texas is not as good for business as Governor Greg Abbott claims.
Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Texas reminds everyone it “is best for business” because the Lone Star State “is where liberty lives.” Local media reinforce the public perception by reporting the perennial No. 1 Texas ranking in CEO Magazine. In truth, rare is the chief executive officer who embraces taxes and regulation -- mostly eschewed in Texas -- with anything more than an assertion they're bad for business.
The decades-old reality of Texas simultaneously asserting liberty and trailing its major peers economically is increasingly relevant in the context of recent laws that allow citizens of the state to sue anyone enabling abortions, empower partisan poll watchers to intimidate voters and encourage handguns in public without training or permits -- none of which were supported by the majority of Texas citizens in public opinion surveys. At the same time, America's CEOs are pleading with lawmakers to expand background checks on all firearms and enact tougher gun control laws.