Reality’s Bias
Posted May 01, 2014 in eNews
In this eNews: How an income-tax repeal would affect Ohioans; lackluster job growth in March; a shout-out from Cincinnati CityBeat; and staffing changes at Policy Matters.
Bad Deal - Gov. John Kasich has made clear his interest in repealing Ohio’s income tax. Our latest tax brief shows that if just half of an income-tax repeal was swapped for a higher sales tax, the poorest fifth of Ohio taxpayers would pay an additional $145 a year. By contrast, the top 1 percent, who made at least $360,000, would receive an annual tax cut of $33,576, enough to purchase a top-end 2014 Mazda MX-5 Miata convertible every year.
Lackluster - Ohio added only 600 jobs in March, suggesting that job growth here remains painfully slow. We need to add another 135,300 jobs just to make up for the jobs lost in the 2007 recession. At the same time, the state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent. Unfortunately, only half of that drop is due to a reported gain in employment. The remainder is due to Ohioans leaving the labor force.
Reality’s Bias - Cincinnati CityBeat gave us a shout-out as the “best people who practically write stories the media should give more attention to.” A fairly small category, we admit, but we appreciate the recognition for writing “the best, most readable policy reports in the state.” CityBeat added: “[R]eal data and numbers always back Policy Matters’ analysis. And hey, they can’t help it if reality keeps a liberal bias.”
Hello, Goodbye - A few days ago we welcomed Shae London, our new development manager, who will be helping us bring in funds to keep cranking out research to build a stronger Ohio. Sadly, at the end of May we’ll be saying farewell to Piet van Lier, education researcher and communications director, who will be moving on to a new position that will put him at the center of school improvement efforts in Cleveland. Mike Shields will serve as interim communications coordinator.