There’s a familiar tune sung in Salem every legislative session: taxes on Oregon businesses are too high, making us uncompetitive. It’s a song stuck on loop, but the evidence tells a different tale.

Consider this data point from a report commissioned by a national business lobby: when accounting for the benefits businesses derive from public investments, including education, Oregon businesses pay about 80 cents in taxes for every dollar they receive in benefits. In other words, the public sector is delivering more value to Oregon businesses than businesses are putting in. That’s not a tax burden; that’s a bargain. And this definition of benefit is an understatement since it assumes businesses gain nearly no benefit from health and human services programs, some of the largest state expenditures.

Who’s singing Oregon’s praises in this way? The study was conducted by the accounting firm Ernst & Young on behalf of the Council On State Taxation (COST), an association of over 500 multistate and international corporations that lobbies on state tax policy. Although COST does not disclose its membership, its board includes representatives from companies such as Walmart, Amazon, and Home Depot.

While ranking states is often a fool’s errand, it is striking that this study, paid for by a big business lobby, puts Oregon tied for the best deal in the nation, alongside Utah, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, and New Jersey. Oregon offers a better deal for businesses than “business climate” darlings like Texas, North Carolina, and Florida.

And it makes sense when you look at what Oregon’s public investment actually does for businesses.

The Oregon Health Plan keeps workers healthy. Oregon has one of the nation’s highest rates of health insurance coverage, thanks in large part to its Medicaid (Oregon Health Plan) program. Oregon’s Medicaid expansion has extended coverage to hundreds of thousands of working Oregonians, employees at restaurants, farms, construction sites, and retail shops across the state. When low-wage workers have access to healthcare, employers may spend less on turnover, absenteeism, and emergency coverage. A healthier workforce is a more productive workforce.

Public infrastructure is the invisible backbone of private profit. Oregon’s ports, highways, and freight rail move billions of dollars of goods every year. The Port of Portland serves as a primary export gateway for agricultural products and manufactured goods. Remove public investment in that infrastructure, and Oregon’s exporters’ supply chains collapse.

Oregon’s community colleges and universities train their workers. Programs at community colleges across the state directly train workers for the healthcare, manufacturing, and construction sectors. Oregon State University’s graduates and programs are inseparable from the state’s semiconductor, timber, and food and beverage sectors. Intel, one of Oregon’s largest employers, has long-standing partnerships with Oregon universities and community colleges to build the engineering and technical pipeline it depends on.

None of this means Oregon’s tax system is perfect or that every dollar is spent with maximum efficiency. But the debate about business taxes in Oregon too often sees taxes as a cost, ignoring the indispensable benefits our tax system delivers to businesses. They’re the price of a system that trains workers, connects markets, educates customers, and keeps our community functioning.

Oregon businesses aren’t just paying taxes. They’re investing in the conditions that make their success possible. So when they talk about taxes, maybe businesses should start singing a happier tune.