Thursday, September 16, 2010

MHTC report shows negative effect of changing tax code

By Rodney H. Brown

The Massachusetts High Technology Council has released the first of two reports on the business climate in Massachusetts that it is doing with the Pioneer Institute. The conclusion: Changes in tax policy over the past few years have led to confusion and uncertainty among CEOS, stifling growth and job creation.

In addition, those CEOs don’t see things getting better soon. The report, Keeping Massachusetts Competitive: The Business Climate in Context, is based on the High Tech Council’s annual CEO survey, and this year 40 percent of CEOs believe the business climate is getting worse. That is the highest number since 1991, according to council officials.

Council President Chris Anderson said, in a release, “Massachusetts now has a choice: respond like we did in the early 1990s by reducing employer costs and creating jobs, or continue to foster an unpredictable business climate that stifles innovation and sends jobs out of state.”

The follow-on report in early October will be in the form of a white paper produced with Global Insight, which will examine the potential economic and employment impacts of reforms to different aspects of the state’s tax structure. All of the reports have been directed by the council’s Tax and Economic Policy Team, led by council chairman James Regan, CEO of Dynamics Research Corp.

The council has been conducting its annual CEO survey since 1987.