Is Wisconsin friendly to entrepreneurs?

Washington - Wisconsin is 27^th in the nation in its friendliness to small business and entrepreneurs, according to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, which released its 10th annual rankings last week.

The SBE Council is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C.

According to SBE Council chief economist Raymond J. Keating, author of the study, "The 'Small Business Survival Index' aims to gauge, state by state, whether public policies help or hurt the entrepreneurial sector of our economy, which of course is so important for economic growth, innovation and job creation."

The index now analyzes 26 major government-imposed or government-related costs affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs, including an assortment of taxes and measures that reflect various regulatory costs. These government-imposed or government-related costs are added together to compute an overall rating. The entire report is available at http://www.sbecouncil.org/.

According to the index, the most entrepreneur-friendly states are South Dakota, Nevada and Wyoming. The least friendly states are Rhode Island, Maine and California. Non-state District of Columbia trails the pack at number 51.