By David Flemming

If you had to predict which state’s businesses were most likely to rebound post-COVID, you would be hard pressed to bet on Vermont. Vermont business owners (especially a certain 6,067 of them) are burdened with a state government that has been exceedingly more cautious than other states in allowing businesses to operate.

Vermont’s government temporarily shut down a higher percentage of businesses than any other New England state in 2020. Only three states in the U.S. have shut down a higher percentage of businesses: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Washington. The benchmark includes any businesses that been shut down for at least one day in 2020.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) created the “2020 Business Response Survey” as a way to gauge how U.S. businesses have been impacted by government-enforced closures due to COVID-19 precautions. The vast majority of such closures are due to state government action, as the federal government functioned more in a support role.

The 6,067 closed Vermont businesses works out to 26.5% of all businesses, or 1 closure per 3.8 businesses — many of which are still closed and will never reopen.

Massachusetts is the only New England state anywhere near Vermont, at 23.1% closures, or 1 closure per 4.3 businesses. The other New England states, (Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire) all have a similarly low rate, of about 1 closure per 6 businesses.

As Vermont’s budgetary black hole beckons, our legislators and Gov. Phil Scott will soon be forced to reckon with their choice to close more businesses than average. Closed businesses mean less money for the core of government functions and legislators’ pet projects. Perhaps if legislators are forced to give up those projects, they will begin to respect the engine of the Vermont economy more the next time around: Vermont Business.

View the Business Response Survey here.

David Flemming is a policy analyst for the Ethan Allen Institute. Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.