North Carolina Claims Nation’s Top Business Climate for 3rd Year in a Row

'Site Selection' Magazine Recognition Puts State In the Lead for Six of Last Seven Years

Raleigh- Gov. Mike Easley today announced that North Carolina, for the third consecutive year and the sixth in the last seven, is the state with the "Top Business Climate" according to Site Selection magazine.  Site Selection is one of the nation's premier magazines for economic development, providing expansion planning information to more than 44,000 corporate executives.  "Corporate executives know North Carolina is listening to them and we understand what they need to succeed," Easley said.  "We are investing in education to provide a skilled workforce, making regulation and permit procedures clear and reasonable, and offering a low state and local tax burden.  All these make our state the top choice for companies looking to grow." Site Selection magazine's annual "Top Business Climate" ...

Gov. Easley Announces 375 Jobs in Guilford County

JDIG Helps Skybus Establish a Base at PTI Airport

Raleigh- Gov. Mike Easley today announced that Columbus, Ohio-based Skybus Airlines Inc. will make Piedmont Triad International Airport its second "focus city," with 11 flights each day from PTI to cities in the U.S.  The company will create 375 jobs and invest more than $350 million in aircraft and other equipment as part of this project, which was made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant. "This innovative airline's decision to locate in the Piedmont Triad should bring significant economic benefits to the region and the state," Easley said.  "North Carolina was First in Flight more than a century ago and we continue to lead the nation in pioneering approaches ...

For Businesses, N.C.’s a Low-Tax State

Wilmington Star North Carolina's business taxes are remarkably low - 47th in the country, according to a research outfit that studies taxation for hundreds of large, multi-state corporations. And North Carolina's business climate is the best in the country - and for the third year in a row, according to Site Selection magazine. So whatever might be wrong with North Carolina's economy, it isn't taxes or regulations. They remain among the least burdensome in the United States. Yet to hear some politicians and business people tell it, the state's corporate income tax is driving away business. They are determined to lower it in this election-year session of the General Assembly. Their argument rests on a single statistic: ...

Business Climate

"This ranking demonstrates that we are doing the right things to ensure long-term economic growth," Gov. Mike Easley said in a prepared statement. "Our challenge is to make future growth translate ...

Economic Development

"We need more flexibility in recruiting tools in order to land the high-tech, good-paying jobs that will help us expand the winner's circle into rural North Carolina," Easley said. -NC industrial recruiting legislation loaded up; 10/8/01 ...

Textile Job Losses

Easley wrote, "I am very disappointed that your office responded to our request with what appears to be a generic form letter indicating you were too busy to meet with us." -Easley, Helms lash Bush for brush off on textiles; ...

N.C. Ranked 4th in Fiscal Management

How the 50 States Rank in Taxing and Spending Wisely

USA TODAY analyzed the financial health of all 50 state governments. The study assessed how states managed their finances during a five-year period in which the economy went from boom to recession. States with "excellent" ratings       How the 50 states rank in taxing and spending wisely USA TODAY. McLean, Va.: Jun 23, 2003. pg. A.02 Copyright USA Today Information Network Jun 23, 2003 Correction ran 6/27/2003: A chart on Page 2A Monday gave Florida an incorrect rating in one of three categories used to rank the 50 state governments in financial management. Florida's score in the effectiveness of state tax systems should have been two stars instead of the maximum four it ...

Lottery

"We're going to have to find whatever ways we can to provide pre-kindergarten and reduced class sizes," Easley told a meeting of the Education: Everybody's Business Coalition, a statewide organization ...

State Budget

"We must be willing to make smart and targeted investments to attract new and better jobs,'' Gov. Easley said. "But we must close revenue loopholes that defy good business practice and fly in the face of fundamental fairness. -Budget crunch right to reconsider loopholes; 2/22/01 Asheville Citizen Times "I tried to go down the list and find every dollar I could that did not directly affect people, such as capital improvements, buildings, automobiles," Easley said in an interview Wednesday. "The second round of cuts got harder, but more than hurting people in terms of losing jobs, what the second round did was create a great deal of anxiety. We're just hoping that we don't need that money." "It's ...