Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Study: Taxes don't affect migration

 

Business First of Columbus

 

Although many Ohioans continue to leave the state, a Cleveland think tank says it's not because of income taxes.

Policy Matters Ohio released a report this week finding no link between migration out of Ohio and the state's income taxes. The group said the study is meant to refute part of the rationale behind Gov. Bob Taft's tax reform plan, a plan Policy Matters has criticized in the past.

Part of the governor's plan would cut income taxes by 21 percent, a measure he said would attract business executives to the state to create jobs.

"Generating jobs and promoting educational opportunities will do more to keep people here than cutting income taxes for the wealthiest," David Rothstein, author of the study, said in a press release.

Taft's proposal has been working its way through the legislature over the past two months.

About 2.9 of every 1,000 Ohioans left the state in 2003, according to the report. Although the largest number departed for Florida, which has no income taxes, Ohioans also went to Kentucky and Michigan, which do levy income taxes. The study noted neighboring states are also seeing outward migration at roughly the same rate as Ohio, regardless of their tax structures.

The study found Ohio's 1996 move to add a top tax rate of 7.5 percent didn't result in an increase in migration. Budget surpluses caused Ohio to cut tax rates from 1996 to 2000, but that didn't slow the migration.

 

 

 © 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.   6/8/2005

 

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Policy Matters Ohio   2912 Euclid Avenue   Cleveland, OH  44115

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Policy Matters Ohio is a non-profit policy research organization founded in January 2000 to broaden the debate about economic policy in Ohio. Our mission is to conduct high-quality research promoting decisions which benefit our whole community. Given the challenges of a rapidly-changing economic system, rising wage inequality, new issues in education and changes in the way work is organized, it is imperative that Ohio workers have a voice in the economic debate.

 

Policy Matters provides real-world analysis focused on issues that matter to low- and middle-income workers in Ohio. Our findings are accessible to the public, the media, and policy makers. We hope to strengthen democracy by providing Ohio's citizens with the essential tools to participate in the public discussion on the economy. We believe this will result in economic policies that better reflect the public interest.