Occasionally, the spirit of sweetness and light descends upon me, briefly dispelling my jaundiced view of the state legislature. Most recently, I found myself nodding with approval when reading about a study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission on Virginia’s manufacturing competitiveness. As John Reid Blackwell puts it in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “State lawmakers want to know how much it costs manufacturing companies to do business in Virginia.”
That’s a worthwhile question to act. Despite its problems, manufacturing remains a pillar of Virginia’s economy. If manufacturers are to remain competitive in a global marketplace, state and local governments need to strip out all unnecessary costs and regulations.
The National Association of Manufacturers has found that regulatory costs account for nearly 22 percent of every dollar paid in manufacturing wages in the United States. What’s the comparable number for Virginia? Nobody knows. What are all the taxes and regulations that affect manufacturing costs? Nobody has compiled an inventory. We need to know, and the General Assembly is making an effort to find out.