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Ohio Agency Officials Tout Efforts to Aid Businesses
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Business owners across Ohio say the state is “headed in the right direction,” the state’s development director reports.
Part of an event yesterday to discuss how small business owners can take advantage of state programs and initiatives, David Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, said he has heard “really good things” from business owners as he tours the state.
“I’m hearing folks saying that we’ve turned the corner, that we’re headed in the right direction,” he remarked. The individuals he has interacted with appreciate the changes in tax policy, regulating businesses and workforce development.
“They’re very appreciative of the JobsOhio rollout and how we have folks in place that actually know how to speak to them in their own language,” he said. “Obviously they’ve got a lot of suggestions on how we can improve and do better, and we’re open to that. We know that we’ve still got improvements to be made here in Ohio but things are getting better.”
Approximately 40 business owners and managers attended the event, held Tuesday morning in conjunction with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber at the Covelli Centre. Goodman was joined by Marjorie Kruse, deputy tax commissioner for audit and compliance; Mark Clendenin, regional business development manager for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation; and Mark Hamlin, director of regulatory policy for the Common Sense Initiative.
“Ohio is on a comeback thanks to people like you,” Goodman told the audience of business representatives.
Signs of Ohio’s progress Goodman pointed to include Ohio’s unemployment rate, which dropped to 6.5% in February, its lowest level since June 2008, as well as rankings showing Ohio’s job creating at first in the nation in the Midwest since January 2011 and fifth in the nation. In January 2014, Ohio’s job creation was ranked second in the nation, he said.
Ohio businesses will benefit from the $2.7 billion tax cut enacted last year, including a 50% cut on taxes for the first $250,000 of income. “The governor is also trying to implement an income tax cut so that we are more competitive with the states around us and throughout the country so that folks who are looking to grow a business or move a business or develop a business do so in the state of Ohio,” he said.
No one four years ago, before Gov. John Kasich took office, “thought we would be talking about a tax cut,” he remarked.
Other programs the Development Services administers is the Invest Ohio program, which offers a 10% tax deduction money an individual might invest in a business, the Vacant Facility Fund, which offers $500 per employee to reutilize vacant spaces, and a collateral enhancement program.
Kasich is pursuing the new tax cut “with the objective of growing jobs and stimulating the economy in Ohio,” Kruse said. The governor and leading economists argue that cutting income taxes leads to long-term economic growth while higher taxes discourage it. Other states Ohio competes with are seeking lower rates.
“Ultimately he would love it to be zero but we’re a long way from that,” she said. Another concern is the combination of state and municipal income taxes, which depending on where an individual lives and what reciprocity agreements might be in place could be in double digits. Someone who lives in Middlefield and works in Youngstown might pay a rate of as much as 10.67%, she reported.
Changing both the perception and the reality of Ohio as a difficult place to do business was the driving force behind the creation of the Common Sense Initiative, which is administered by Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor. The objective is to create culture in which regulatory agencies see businesses as a partner rather than an adversary, Hamlin said. Any time an agency proposes a rule an analysis is required to determine the impact on business.
“Regulations are important,” Hamlin said. “We need to protect the environment, we need to protect injured workers but we need the right regulations.”
Tim Santell, president of Performance Communications in Kinsman, said because of the lower tax rates he is getting a refund from Ohio for the first time. His business also will benefit from what the state has done to simplify taxes. “If we don’t have to sit there and spend hours doing the taxes then it helps us put hours into our business, which we can expand,” he remarked.
Robert Struharik, president of Master Plan Builders in North Lima, expressed concerns during the question-and-answer period over having to deal with the state’s use tax. He said he found the state officials at the event helpful.
“I learned that the government really wants to help us and actually wants to interact with small businesses to see what we can relate to them as far as what they can help us with,” he said.
Among the programs of interest to Jordan Taylor, vice president of HWS Baseball, which owns the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, was the tax cut for the first $250,000 of income. That break, along with the state income tax cut, “could be very beneficial for our business,” he said.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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