Business Unfriendly

It is no surprise that after three decades, Mitsubishi Motors of America has decided to relocate its North American headquarters from Cypress to Tennessee. California is hostile to business and welcoming to illegal aliens. The real surprise is that Mitsubishi waited this long to move.

With Democrats passing laws and regulations that are making California a third-world country, it’s a wonder any business remains if the same work can be performed in a business-friendly state.

Consider that California:

• Is 49th in the Tax Foundation’s 2019 State Business Tax Climate Index. The state had been in 48th place the previous five years.
• Is among the highest taxed states in the nation with the highest income tax rates.
• Is home to roughly one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients despite having just 12 percent of the nation’s population.
• Has the highest gas taxes in the nation – and we just had another increase on July 1.
• Has a costly and complex regulatory environment that makes starting or expanding extremely difficult.
• Insults law-abiding citizens by being a sanctuary state that welcomes illegal aliens with multiple free government services – medical, housing and education. Plus encourages illegals to obtain driver’s licenses.

As a former small business owner and president of Rossmoor-Los Alamitos Republican Women Federated, with members throughout west Orange County and greater Long Beach, I join the chorus of those who are disappointed Mitsubishi Motors is leaving Cypress. However, Mitsubishi wasn’t the first business to leave the state because California is over-taxed, over-regulated and over-managed and they won’t be the last business to go.

Thanks to Democratic mismanagement California continues to be a net exporter of companies and their middle-class jobs to other states. If readers want to make California great again, they should join the Republican Party.

Patricia Eskenazi