Here’s an interesting tidbit from a Providence Journal article in which Carol Kozma attempts to answer the question, “Why are airlines growing more interested in T.F. Green?”:

Location, location, location. It’s not only good for real estate, but also for airlines.

T.F. Green is “an access point for a huge part of the Northeastern U.S.,” said Boyd, an industry analyst based in Colorado.

Sixty-four percent of New Englanders live within 75 miles of Green, according to the Rhode Island Airport Corporation.

Roughly speaking, a circle around Warwick with a radius of 75 miles catches Boston, Worcester, the beginnings of the cape, and much of Connecticut, nearly to Hartford.

Naturally, what this brings first to my mind is how big of a market is within a short drive of Rhode Island if the state were to dramatically reduce or eliminate its sales tax.  More than half of all New Englanders probably live within an hour’s drive of the Ocean State.  Extending a low (or no) sales tax to that customer base, especially with ready access (and expanding) to every form of transportation, from sea to sky to road to rail, would create huge incentive for businesses to consider Rhode Island — even without taxpayer subsidies.