Ohio's titanic budget

The one issue that defies all my logic, is how increasing taxes can ever create jobs. To me it's simple mathematics. Take the idiots, I mean representatives in Ohio. They've run the state budget for years into the ground. They've now got us so far in the hole that both sides say the only way to plug the holes in the sinking ship is to significantly raise taxes. They will turn Ohio, which is already rated one of the worst business friendly states, into an all out assault on small business.

First we have a budget that was submitted by the house that is complete BS. I'm not a genius, and even I know that when the economy is down, people earn less money, and the state will collect less in taxes. Yet the house, and Governor Tax'em Ted Strickland pushed it through anyway with a wink wink and a smile. Only the government can operate this way. And only when enough people, taxpayers, don't pay attention.

Last weekend my husband and I had a famous "Whiteys" burger with some fellow Cleveland tea party patriots. At one point, while talking about our business, my husband shared that his biggest professional regret was that we moved our business to Ohio. Now, that's a whole other blog, but, there is something our representatives need to be reminded of. Just as easily as we sold a house, bought another, packed an office, and moved our key people here, we can do it again and go elsewhere. Do we want to? No. But it does come down to a funny fact call math.

I'm sick of watching politicians throw money around like everyday is Christmas. I'm sick of politicians trying to make the case that increasing taxes and inventing new ones will solve the worlds woes. Every single dollar they take is another dollar you have to play catch up to earn. At what point do you cut bait and run?? Well, it's already been happening. People have been fleeing Ohio for years. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article,

Research from Richard Vedder of Ohio University, found that from 1998 to 2007, more than 1,100 people every day including Sundays and holidays moved from the nine highest income-tax states such as California, New Jersey, New York and Ohio and relocated mostly to the nine tax-haven states with no income tax, including Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and Texas. We also found that over these same years the no-income tax states created 89% more jobs and had 32% faster personal income growth than their high-tax counterparts.

So, while unemployment rises in our state, our elected officials continue to raise the taxes, making it all but impossible for people like me and my husband to give raises, offer more benefits or increase bonuses. The money simply isn't there. Our officials have made damn sure of that.

Did the greater prosperity in low-tax states happen by chance? Is it coincidence that the two highest tax-rate states in the nation, California and New York, have the biggest fiscal holes to repair? No. Dozens of academic studies -- old and new -- have found clear and irrefutable statistical evidence that high state and local taxes repel jobs and businesses.

More recently, Barry W. Poulson of the University of Colorado last year examined many factors that explain why some states grew richer than others from 1964 to 2004 and found "a significant negative impact of higher marginal tax rates on state economic growth." In other words, soaking the rich doesn't work. To the contrary, middle-class workers end up taking the hit.

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While we flounder, there are states who are getting it right. States with officials who have respect for the funds that are collected and dispersed. Officials that treat a state budget like it was their own money and not a monopoly game. Look at Texas.

Gov. Perry and Texas have the jobs and prosperity model exactly right. Texas created more new jobs in 2008 than all other 49 states combined. And Texas is the only state other than Georgia and North Dakota that is cutting taxes this year.

Hopefully Ohio can get it right. If not, Texas is looking better and better. Plus, I've always had a thing for warmer climates and cowboys...