Utah Retains “Rich States, Poor States” Title - Is this still a thing?

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It’s hard to believe that this is still a thing, but the Arthur Laffer-affiliated think tank, American Legislative Exchange Council, is out with another edition of its Rich States, Poor States publication. The report ranks the states in terms of economic competitiveness using an index of 15 variables, most of which are related to tax policy. For the 19th year in a row, Utah came out on top, with Tennessee, Idaho, North Carolina, and Arizona rounding out the top five. Connecticut, California, Vermont, New Jersey, and New York make up the bottom five. Presumably, a high ranking gives the “top tier” states some bragging rights and marketing material to leverage, but once one realizes that this is essentially a Reaganomics/supply side exercise, it starts to look more like a tax policy race to the bottom than an informative analytical study.


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