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More than 600 CEOs rated states on a wide range of criteria from taxation and regulation to workforce quality and living environment, in our sixth annual special report.

Number 19, we moved up 3 spots over last year though, so that's good.

We're average. Yay!

Ok is Ok with CEO's.

Look to our friends directly south of us to see who is #1, and we wonder why business leave Ok for Texas.

That bottom 5 list is the states the CoC needs to be hitting hard with recruitment efforts.

That bottom 5 list is the states the CoC needs to be hitting hard with recruitment efforts.

That story has to be wrong. The CEOs cited taxes (above everything else) in their criteria and we have been told multiple times by 'experts' on OKC Talk that taxes have nothing to do with business decisions, or if they do they are way down on the list. Also, anyone else notice a red state/blue state correleation in the rankings?

I found this one item to be incredible.


By contrast, Texas, the second-most populous state and the world’s 12th largest economy, is where 70 percent of all new U.S. jobs have been created since 2008.

WOW, the stats on Texas are staggering.

Ok is Ok with CEO's.

Look to our friends directly south of us to see who is #1, and we wonder why business leave Ok for Texas.

What businesses are leaving Oklahoma for Texas? That's largely already happened, with petrol companies moving to Houston and Dallas. And they did it because of access to transportation.

Texas brings a lot more to the table than no state income tax. It has an enormous pool of talent and is already a leader in transportation, banking, telecom, and multiple industries.

Businesses cluster where they need to be.

I did read the link and found it interesting. But to read it you would think places like Alabama have better economies than Massachusetts, New York, PA, etc. I would like to see that chart compared to the economic output of all of the states. Some of their "bottom 5" would be leading the country.

WOW, the stats on Texas are staggering.

Texas is unstoppable. Does Oklahoma's position adjacent to Texas hurt us, or help us? Texas has fared well through the recession and so has Oklahoma, relatively. This part of the country will continue to be a place that grows due to our climate, lower taxes, and central location. OKC and Tulsa will continue to be energy leaders as well which will help continue to create jobs as that is a constantly growing industry. OKC also has an emerging biotech/medical research industry that will continue to grow and Tulsa has a growing aerospace industry. The best things Oklahoma can do are to invest more in education and infrastructure while keeping taxes low.

What businesses are leaving Oklahoma for Texas? That's largely already happened, with petrol companies moving to Houston and Dallas. And they did it because of access to transportation.


Not according to the story - companies (according to the CEOs anyhow) move to where the resistance to business (taxes and regulation) is the least. California has some of the best air service in the world and they are at the bottom.

What would happen if Oklahoma lawmakers were to "mirror" the entire economic layout as Texas?

I am not sure being close to Texas actually helps us. I think if we were close to CA or one of the bottom 5 states would be better. Arizona has exploded over the years I would think being close to CA could be a factor is this.

What would happen if Oklahoma lawmakers were to "mirror" the entire economic layout as Texas?

I am not sure being close to Texas actually helps us. I think if we were close to CA or one of the bottom 5 states would be better. Arizona has exploded over the years I would think being close to CA could be a factor is this.

Arizona is in a nose dive, is it not?

What would happen if Oklahoma lawmakers were to "mirror" the entire economic layout as Texas?

I am not sure being close to Texas actually helps us. I think if we were close to CA or one of the bottom 5 states would be better. Arizona has exploded over the years I would think being close to CA could be a factor is this. I am still trying to locate the article from the Dallas Morning News a couple of weeks ago in their business section where Boone Pickens (Native Oklahoman) but now a Texan were speaking with some of his high profile OKIE friends and they were asking him why Texas seems to always land all the high profile HQ's and business and Oklahoma does not? He replied that if Oklahoma would change their laws and be more business friendly and have more of a favorable business climate towards business then they will begin to reap what Texas has been doing for many years. The article went on and stated his OKIE friends shook their heads in disbelief and did not believe him? Maybe this is why Oklahoma will "never" mirror the economic layout of Texas. Oklahoma should have been doing this many years ago but rested on it's laurels while Texas ran away with the big economic powerball and has not stopped since then. Perhaps this is holding back Oklahoma in a big way. Remember what Oklahoma did with GM around 15 years ago. Now they are gone and Oklahoma pays the price.

Arizona is in a nose dive, is it not?

Yes.

Kerry,

I see you're trying to bring up old arguments. The ONLY thing you ever discuss is taxes. But that's not all. Texas also has great transportation. I'm not suggesting Oklahoma become a high-tax state like California. I'm saying that Oklahoma is already a low-tax, inexpensive business environment. But it's also a business environment that doesn't have the talent base of Texas, or the transportation options of Texas, or the industry development of Texas. Your argument seems to be entirely predicated on the belief that if Oklahoma simply gets rid of its personal income tax of 4.5%, our economy would explode and we would be just like Texas. I'm saying that's a naive statement, and we would soon find out that we need more than that to compete with Texas.

Oklahoma does not need to be reducing any taxes, they are low enough as it is. We can improve in other areas like education, infrastructure, and quality of life and become more attractive due to our already low cost of living and doing business, favorable climate, and our enviable position as a world energy leader. Houston, Dallas, OKC, Tulsa, and Denver are the main energy cities in the U.S. and Oklahoma is one of the largest oil/gas producing states.

Whatever soonerguru and Big918. They asked the CEOs, the CEOs told them what they look for - but I guess you know best.

A couple of things. First, if you will look at the survey the magazine decided what questions it would ask and it then sent out a blind mailing to its subscribers and then compiled the responses it got back. The three and only three categories it chose to ask questions about were taxes/governance, quality of the workforce, and living environment. I think what folks have said here in the past is that yes taxes are important, but it often isn't one of the top factors.

I think a lot of it really depends on the type of business we are talking about. If we're talking white collar businesses and intellectual property, then I don't think taxes and things of that nature are as big of a concern (but of course they are at some level). If on the other hand we're talking blue collar stuff such as manufacturing or other things that have very tight budgets and have to deal with G&A issues all the time, then probably tax consideration is higher up on the list. In fact if you click through the article and look at some of the comments they chose to publish it is pretty apparent that this is the case... lots of feedback and/or examples of companies or divisions of companies that are responsible for building complex items, call centers, food production/farming, and so on. That's not to say those jobs aren't valuable, it's just that all industries don't value the same things all the time. E.g. a lot of the "governance" answers had to do with union busting, which is usually not a concern with any white collar field.

Finally, check out the publication a bit if you get a chance. It's a magazine like so many others, they just try to target CEOs and executives but all subscribers are welcome. I don't know what this particular magazine's criteria for its mailings were, but I know often these magazines just mail this crap to anyone on their subscription list, or if they're really discerning everyone on their mailing list that checked a box on the subscription form indicating they were some kind of executive.

Texas is strained their education system is at capacity but thanks to Oklahoma subsidizing low cost college (OU OSU) it helps them stay ahead, also their financial picture as far as transportation does not look so good, they are nearly at the point where they have exhausted all of their funds.
And CEO's don't only look at taxes, they look at a look of factors, in fact George Kaiser is upset at the legislature for cutting his taxes because he wants more money invested in OK's future (roads and schools) he has openly discussed leaving the state because the tax base can't support infrastructure needs and his workforce is less qualified. But George Kaiser doesn't know what he's talking about with money...