RALEIGH – One of many signs that North Carolina’s adverse tax and regulatory policies are putting the squeeze on entrepreneurial activity in the state can be found in a recent report from the N.C. Secretary of State’s office about the flow of investment dollars.
The office tracks firms that offer securities to accredited investors in North Carolina to raise private equity – including venture capital for new or expanding businesses. It found that of 1,089 companies that scouted the state for growth capital between September 2001 and August 2002, only about 17 percent – or 179 – of them were based in North Carolina.
“The figures suggest,” wrote Triangle Business Journal (see here: http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2002/09/30/story6.html) “that at a time when many North Carolina and Triangle companies are starving for capital, a vast majority of North Carolina investment dollars are flowing across the border.”
Perhaps if we adopted a state lottery, built a new hotel at N.C. State and a new hospital at UNC-Chapel Hill, increased subsidies for steeplechases and “heritage tourism” and gave tax incentives for cities to build new basketball arenas, baseball stadiums, and convention centers, North Carolina entrepreneurs would have more success in attracting capital and find greater opportunities for growth in our state.
Is that really what the politicians in Raleigh would have us believe?