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Kosmont Companies and the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College present the 2008 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey®. The 2008 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey uses a proprietary basket of costs approach to compare government fees as determinants of what drives businesses' location choices. The Survey objectively compares 402 cities nationwide based on the array of taxes and fees cities impose on businesses and significantly affect business interests such as sales, utility, income, property, and business taxes.
The Survey examines numerous types of fees, and each city has a unique approach to taxation and exaction. Nonetheless, trends still emerge year after year. More so than in recent years, the 2008 Survey reveals the tendency for older and more populous cities near the coasts or in the Great Lakes to be more expensive for business than their smaller, suburban counterparts. The 2008 list enables a more accurate year-over-year comparison for any given city. This year's Survey incorporates a new weighting system in order to reflect rising energy costs for a more accurate representation of business costs. The methodology changes will enable greater analysis of how cities change over time, enhancing the power of the Survey in years to come.
Since its inception fourteen years ago, the Survey has grown from 75 to over 400 cities and the baseline of taxes evaluated has expanded as well. In the past when cost ratings were assigned, the Survey considered how each individual city compared to the mean value of all the cities for that year. In the 2008 release we used the median value from the previous year. By using the median value instead of the mean, cities stand more on their own merits, and their relative position in the Survey is less prone to minor changes in the other cities. Changes in one city are prevented from affecting other cities even if the other cities have changed none of their policies.
The Survey examines numerous types of fees, and each city has a unique approach to taxation and exaction. Nonetheless, trends still emerge year after year. More so than in recent years, the 2008 Survey reveals the tendency for older and more populous cities near the coasts or in the Great Lakes to be more expensive for business than their smaller, suburban counterparts. The 2008 list enables a more accurate year-over-year comparison for any given city. This year's Survey incorporates a new weighting system in order to reflect rising energy costs for a more accurate representation of business costs. The methodology changes will enable greater analysis of how cities change over time, enhancing the power of the Survey in years to come.
Since its inception fourteen years ago, the Survey has grown from 75 to over 400 cities and the baseline of taxes evaluated has expanded as well. In the past when cost ratings were assigned, the Survey considered how each individual city compared to the mean value of all the cities for that year. In the 2008 release we used the median value from the previous year. By using the median value instead of the mean, cities stand more on their own merits, and their relative position in the Survey is less prone to minor changes in the other cities. Changes in one city are prevented from affecting other cities even if the other cities have changed none of their policies.
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