We worked with Vermont Business Magazine on a pulse poll of Vermont businesses.  We asked what factors cause Vermont businesses pain, how much that pain would have to go down to make it tolerable, and what factors would drive businesses away.  The article about the survey is here.  The full report on the survey is here.

It was an interesting project.  First, businesses are in Vermont for the simple reason they want to be.  Businesses do not typically locate in Vermont because costs are low or the resources they need for their work are here — mines or ports for instance.  Of course many are:  Omya, Rock of Ages, etc.  For the most part, though, businesses locate in Vermont because of Vermont.  Second, even though many factor costs cause businesses pain, all but one tested factor cost falls into one of two categories:  (1) the pain is acceptable and normal cost of doing business; (2) the pain is severe but, for businesses feeling that pain, the costs would need to come down so dramatically to reduce the pain is so great it is not realistic to see the reduction and therefore it is not good policy to pursue the goal of ‘pain reduction.’  Third, one factor cost could well drive significant numbers of businesses away and that is Vermont tax policy.  It is not Vermont’s decisions of how to spend its money that came through as the issue — Vermont businesses are here because they like Vermont ‘the society,’ not just Vermont ‘the postcard.’  It is the disconnect between the vision the state wants to achieve for itself and the lack of investment in attracting enough of the right businesses to create the revenue to pay for the society we want to be.

We would love to hear your reaction to the article and the survey report.