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'Tis the season for Top Ten lists, but this one--the 14th annual Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey released by the Rose Institute of State & Local Government at Claremont McKenna College--gives our fair city more of dubious honor. Once again, Los Angeles ranks among the "10 most expensive places in the country to do business," reports the Daily News.
The survey takes a comparative look at over 400 cities in the nation, "based on the array of taxes and fees each imposes. They include sales, utility, income, property, and business taxes." However, the released information does not give a numerical ranking, but rather a top and bottom ten. According to Yahoo! "The ten most expensive cities in 2008 (in alphabetical order) are: Akron, OH; Chicago, IL; Clarksburg, WV; Jersey City, NJ; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; San Francisco, CA; and Santa Monica, CA."
Why so pricey here? It has a lot to do with our tax and fee structure, history of business relations, and the realtor's mantra: location, location, location. This year's survey revealed that cities located on the coast or the Great Lakes were more expensive than those inland. The survey also "noted that the highest-cost cities, such as Santa Monica and Oakland, cluster around the aging urban cores, while newer bedroom communities in the outer suburbs charge developers for their growth and pass on the savings to businesses to stimulate their economies."
Unfortunately for Los Angeles and Santa Monica, the "most expensive" tag isn't likely to dissipate soon, in fact, it's expected to get worse.
Photo by jenn_jenn via Flickr
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