Thursday, February 12, 2009

High tech council survey: Pessimism soars

By Mass High Tech Staff

According to a report released today, pessimism is at nearly record levels among Massachusetts technology CEOs, despite a wave of 2008 legislation designed to spur the tech economy. The Massachusetts High Technology Council’s 2009 CEO Business Climate Survey showed a degree of pessimism in the state’s high tech business not seen in 18 years.

Each year since 1987 the council conducts the survey, and this year it shows 38 percent of technology CEOs believe the climate is “worsening,” compared with only 4 percent a year ago. That 38 percent is the lowest point since 1991, when it reached 66 percent, according to the council.

According to the council, despite passage of the Life Sciences Initiative, Green Communities Act and a one-time unemployment tax rate freeze, increasing state budget deficits along with a $500 million tax increase imposed on employers in 2008 — and possible higher tax and regulatory burdens in 2009 — “underscored growing concerns about the competitiveness of the state’s technology economy,”

“There is a deep concern that mounting tax and regulatory burdens will continue in 2009 and that concern is reflected in these survey results.  Still, there is opportunity for the technology community to work with Beacon Hill leaders on a policy agenda that will minimize the short-term economic pain of the recession while making us more competitive for the future,” said council president Christopher R. Anderson.