LESSONS FROM BLUE AMERICA:

Massachusetts is blessed with a golden-egg-laying goose in its vibrant tech sector, thanks in part to wizard magnets like MIT, but the state government apparently thinks that this is one goose that would be better off cooked. The legislature has passed a new “software tax” that will make doing tech business in the state more expensive and difficult. . . .

The article notes a rumor that the law might be amended. We certainly hope that’s true. Some techies are already talking of abandoning Massachusetts if the tax stays in the books, and we wouldn’t blame them if they did. There are other states in the union that see small businesses as job creators, not as revenue cows to be milked to pay for all the unfunded goodies legislators have doled out over the years.

Massachusetts already attracts many of our cleverest and most creative entrepreneurs during their most formative years. It’s up to state leaders to figure out a tax and regulatory system that makes these job creators want to stay.

Good luck with that. Massachusetts pols are dumb and greedy even by northeastern standards, which is saying something.