Las Vegas Business Press : Las Vegas is still the best business city

Las Vegas is still the best business city

Las Vegas has ranked as the least expensive major city in a new survey on the cost of doing business. The Kosmont-Rose Institute 2006 Cost of Doing Business Survey ranked Cheyenne, Wy. as the cheapest city of all and Philadelphia, Penn. as the most expensive.

The survey ranks each city according to the cost of six taxes -- on business itself, on telephones, on sales, on property, electric and utility taxes and corporate income taxes. It then comes up with a Rate Comparison, which allows cities to be compared. All cities are then ranked into one of five categories from most expensive to least expensive.

The most expensive business locales included Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Other large cities that were rated least expensive included Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas and Denver.

The survey found that the fundamentals of doing business in Southern California are unlikely to change, despite the reforms of the business tax regime in 2005. The business tax reductions amount to 15 percent at best, said the survey, but the cost of property, labor and housing would all keep costs high and far above the national average.

California cities have been placed at a peculiar disadvantage by the initiatives that have cut back state revenue. That has, in turn, reduced the funds available from Sacramento for local government and they have fallen back on higher business and property taxes. The report expects that trend to continue.

While Las Vegas came out best, the report indicated that Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado are all strong competitors for new business or for businesses seeking to relocate. No state, it noted, could rest easy. "All regions in the United States ... feel the pressure of low-cost business environments that countries like China and India provide," it said.

More information and the complete survey are available at the institute's Web site.

bpeditor@lvbusinesspress.com

Search Classifieds: