Who loves small business best? Arkansas rankings 2006: Snapshot

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FSB Who loves small business best? 2006

Which states are low on taxes and light on government regulations? Exclusive rankings for FSB.com from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.*

Arkansas

Rank: 20

Taxes
Top personal income tax rate	7.00%
Top capital gains tax rate on individuals	4.90%
Top corporate income tax rate	6.50%
S-corporations tax rate	0.00%
State AMT?	No
Estate or inheritance tax?	No
Gas tax ($ per gallon)	0.218

Health-insurance regulations
No individual may be turned down
Insurers must charge same price to everyone in a community

Energy costs
Electricity (cents/kilowatthour)	6.17
Gas (average price per gallon)**	$2.08

Bureaucracy
State and local govt. bureaucrats per 100 residents	5.76

Labor
State minimum wage/hour	$6.25
"Right to work" state?	Yes****

Footnote:

* SBE Council, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit which advocates for reduced government taxes and regulations on small business, tends to lobby for the Republican agenda when it comes to taxes and regulations.

** Source: Oil Price Information Service (http://www.opisnet.com). Gas prices are not part of the SBEC's Small Business Survival Index.

**** In right-to-work states, employees are not required to join a union or pay union dues to work at companies with labor unions.

Low taxes

Rank	Name
1	South Dakota
2	Nevada
3	Wyoming
See the rest

Low energy costs

Rank	Name
1	Kentucky
2	West Virginia
3	Missouri
See the rest

How we ranked the states

Which states are low on taxes and light on government regulations? In these exclusive rankings for FSB.com, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C. used their Small Business Survival Index to rate the 50 states and Washington, D.C. according to some of the major government-imposed or -related costs affecting investment, entrepreneurship, and business. SBE Council, which advocates for reduced government taxes and regulations on small business, supports a mostly Republican agenda. (more)

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