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| Wild dolphins near Clearwater Beach, Florida. |
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| Location
Surveys conducted by the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC) are both interesting and helpful. The SBEC's "Business Tax Index 2010" ranks the states from best to worst in terms of the costs of their tax systems on entrepreneurship and small business. The Index pulls together 16 different tax measures, and combines those into one tax score that allows the 50 states and District of Columbia to be compared and ranked.
The survey finds the ten best state tax systems are:
1) South Dakota
2) Texas
3) Nevada
4) Wyoming
5) Washington
6) Florida,
7) Alabama
8) Alaska
9) Ohio
10) Colorado
The ten worst state tax systems are:
42) Massachusetts
43) Oregon
44) Vermont
45) Iowa
46) Maine
47) New York
48) California
49) Minnesota
50) New Jersey
51) District of Columbia.
The survey also looks at state personal income tax. Tied equal first are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington (state) and Wyoming - all of which have no state income tax. Delaware rates 37th with New York 47th and California 48th.
State rankings of capital gains tax are also listed. Florida is again tied in first place with Delaware 39th, New York 48th and California 49th. Top corporate income tax rates are also ranked. Florida comes out at 14th, New York at 36th, Delaware at 41st and California at 42nd. The District of Colombia (ie Washington, DC) is ranked 50th out of 51.
We chose to locate our US headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, a tax and business friendly state with an excellent labor force and vibrant economy linked to the UK with plentiful, economical flights. We find it is also a lovely place to live, work and visit.
Climate
Average high temperatures (centigrade) for the month of January are:
Clearwater, FL - 22
Dallas, TX - 13
Manchester, UK - 6
New York, NY - 2
San Francisco, CA – 14
Average high temperatures (centigrade) for the month of July are:
Clearwater, FL - 33
Dallas, TX - 36
Manchester, UK - 19
New York, NY - 28
San Francisco, CA - 20
Time Zones
The United States uses
nine standard time zones of which
probably only five are significant to UK exporters.
From east to west they are Atlantic Standard Time (AST), Eastern Standard Time
(EST), Central Standard Time (CST), Mountain Standard Time (MST), Pacific
Standard Time (PST), Alaskan Standard Time (AKST), Hawaii-Aleutian Standard
Time (HST), Samoa standard time (UTC-11) and Chamorro Standard Time (UTC+10).
- Eastern Standard Time (EST) is, mostly, five hours
behind UK time
- Central Standard Time (CST) is, mostly, six hours
behind UK time
- Mountain Standard Time (MST) is, mostly, seven hours
behind UK time
- Mountain Time (inc Arizona) is, mostly, eight hours
behind UK time
- Pacific Standard Time (PST) is, mostly, eight hours
behind UK time
The above, of course,
does not include the time zones of Alaska and Hawaii. Confused? You will be if
you do not know a number of states use more than one time zone.
Daylight Saving Time begins at 02.00 local time on the second Sunday in March.
On the first Sunday in November areas on Daylight Saving Time return to
Standard Time at 02.00. The names in each time zone change along with Daylight
Saving Time. Eastern Standard Time (EST) becomes Eastern Daylight Time (EDT),
and so forth. Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands and American
Samoa do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
It is a strange thing about time zones. Some Californians will accept the three
hour time difference when calling Florida, yet find the eight hour time
difference to the UK an insurmountable barrier to business - which makes having
in US time-zone telephone answering all the more important.
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