Capital gains tax would harm state's workforce

It's been a busy few days here at NHWatchdog, and I missed Bill Ardinger's piece in the Concord Monitor outlining why taxing capital gains will harm far more than the "rich":

New Hampshire's capacity over the next decade to provide a good economy with good jobs for its citizens will depend on its ability to attract capital from people who are willing to take risks to create new businesses and jobs. And make no mistake about it, decisions by entrepreneurs to invest capital are always made on an "after-tax" basis, and are therefore highly sensitive to tax differences among jurisdictions.

Without question (at least before Wednesday, when the House voted in favor of a capital gains tax), New Hampshire's top competitive advantage compared with other states is in the market for entrepreneurs. We offer these job-creating agents a range of important benefits: access to an educated labor force; a good public school system for their children and their employees' children; no sales or use tax on items purchased by the business; no income tax on wages paid to workers; and no capital gains tax if the business is successful. In effect, just miles north of Boston, we offer a highly competitive "product" to attract entrepreneurial capital and jobs from larger economic centers.