052311 State legislator provides insight into state economy
By Sharon Haught
May 15, 2011
274
Summary: While Ohios economy may not be at the level it was a few years ago, one State Senator believes there is reason to be optimistic about the states future.
It has been a difficult economic time and it is going to continue to be but I think there is a lot of room for optimism.
That was the assessment of the states economy that State Senator Larry Obhof shared with the audience for the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast on May 13.
Obhofs appraisal is based on two important recent developments – a dip in the unemployment rate and a rise in income tax revenue.
Weve had a lot of growth in the last 12 months, said Obhof noting that the unemployment rate dropped from 10.6 percent last year at this time to 8.9 percent.
Thats twice as high as wed like to be but that is tens of thousands of new jobs we didnt have at this point last year, said Obhof.
Those new jobs have translated into higher income tax revenue for the state.
According to Obhof in April the state took in $200 million more in income tax revenue that predicted.
Instead of collecting unemployment theyre working, theyre earning incomes, theyre spending money and theyre paying taxes. That means that over the next two years the budget situation probably wont be as bad as we expected it to be. We cant plan on that. We have to assume the worst but there is a lot of room for optimism, said Obhof.
Obhof credits the states pro-growth agenda over past six months for the advances in the states economy.
Obhof noted that while government cant produce jobs what the state can do is get out of the way and try to regulate in the most efficient manner possible so were not strangling off economic growth.
According to Obhof over the past few months the General Assembly has been busy dealing with more than just the states upcoming biennial budget.
Weve been removing regulations that are over burdensome. Weve been getting rid of mandates from Columbus that were unfunded. Weve been repealing a lot of things that quite frankly werent working. Weve been scaling back the size and scope of government in ways that allow people like you to get the economy moving again, said Obhof.
Obhof credits a commission charged with reviewing Ohios regulatory system convened by former Governor Ted Strickland with laying the groundwork for the actions currently being undertaken to reduce the regulatory burden on burdens on small businesses.
They came to the conclusion that our regulatory system in this state was strangling small business, said Obhof adding that the state not only had too many regulations but also too many regulators covering the same activity.
That was making people not want to do business here, said Obhof adding from now on any regulation is going to have a cost benefit analysis done. If it is more burdensome than helpful were not going to enact it.
According to Obhof these types of actions are responsible for the reversing the troubling trend of businesses fleeing the state.
Over the last four or five years we lost 436,000 jobs in Ohio. We had a slew of major businesses leave the state, said Obhof.
Weve really stopped the bleeding here. States arent poaching our businesses anymore and theyre not going to be able to moving forward because were headed in the right direction and some other states arent doing that, said Obhof.
Ohio is leading the way. Businesses are going to start wanting to move here and leaving other places because weve had the right approach over the last five months and were going to continue with that approach for the next four years, said Obhof.
