Despite being lauded for having the best “business tax climate” in a dubious new study, zero Fortune 500 companies call Wyoming home.

On the other end of the spectrum, New Jersey, which was ranked dead last in the Tax Foundation’s annual report, is home to 20 Fortune 500 companies.

It leads us to wonder: if Wyoming is such a great place to do business, why aren’t any major businesses based there?

The simple answer is completely ignored by the politicians who often cite this annual study: taxes are a minor part of the overall equation a business owner takes into account when choosing where to put down roots. Access to high-quality labor, transit, culture, other businesses — as well as quality of life issues like good schools — all factor in to business decisions, not just tax rates.

But that didn’t stop Gov. Christie from using this year’s report to push his political agenda, conflating tax rates with broad economic prosperity while ignoring the things taxes pay for that everyone wants (like, as we noted this week, healthy and happy children).

In the report, The Tax Foundation even admits that it does not provide a full measurement of “the broad business climate” – a fact that seems to be lost on the governor.