The Council on State Taxation has released its 2008 Business Tax Burden Study.  You can view the whole report here.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect for North Dakotans is the fact that our state had the third highest percentage of growth in business tax revenues in the nation since 2002.  In 2002 the state collected approximately $1 billion in taxes (sales, property, etc.).  In 2007 the state collected $1.7 billion in taxes, representing a 63.8% rate of growth.

During that same time period over all tax revenue growth in the state was 53.7%, and growth in business tax revenues represented 67.9% of that growth.  Meaning that the majority of the surplus the state is enjoying is coming from taxes paid by businesses.

Now, given that North Dakota’s treasurer has announced a record-setting balance in the state treasury and that the state already spends tens of millions of dollars on “economic development” schemes to “create jobs”, isn’t it high time we gave the state’s businesses a tax break so that they can expand operations and create more jobs?

Seems to me like North Dakota is ripe for tax cuts.  What’s baffling is why nobody in North Dakota seems to be talking about significant tax relief.

I’m looking at you, Republicans.