It is the tax season and talk about taxes, penalties, tax cuts, minimum wage and hiring are the talk of the town. For everyone that is still procrastinating about doing their taxes, I just want to remind you you ONLY have 10 DAYS left. If you are not ready nor will be ready in ten days time, it is probably wise for you to file and extension to file later and avoid those pesky penalties the IRS will impose on you. For more news about what is happening in Ohio please follow the links below.
Push for $10.10 minimum wage would create winners, losers in Ohio
Amy Zickefoose’s husband works long, difficult hours with machines in Tennessee, hundreds of miles from their Mansfield home . For this dangerous work, he receives $11 an hour.
State and federal politicians have proposed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016, but Zickefoose said fast-food employees shouldn’t be paid that much.
“I definitely don’t feel (they) should make almost as much as my husband,” said, Zickefoose, adding that she doesn’t believe an increase would help her family . “I know his boss wouldn’t give him another dollar.”
An increase in the minimum wage, which is $7.95 an hour in Ohio, would mean layoffs and potentially higher food prices, but also better-paid workers and potentially lower costs for social services. Whether that sounds like a great or horrible idea depends largely on where you fit into the workforce.
“From the employees’ perspective, a wage increase is always appreciated,” said Randy Davies, president and CEO of the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce. “There are many aspects a small business owner would have to adjust.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimated 500,000 workers, or 0.3 percent of the American workforce, would lose their jobs by 2016 if Congress raised the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. However, another 16.5 million would see their wage increase, the report stated.
Faber: Tax cuts, regulatory reform has Ohio going in the ‘right direction’
LIMA — The leader of the state Senate claims Ohio is moving in the right direction, but that is not good enough and more work needs to be done.
Before Republican Gov. John Kasich took office, the state was losing 100,000 jobs per year for several years, Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, said. In the last three years, the state has seen private enterprise create 238,000 jobs, including 300 jobs at Ford Motor Co. Lima Engine Plant.
Under former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, Faber pointed out the state’s “rainy day” fund dropped to 89 cents and Kasich inherited a state budget that was $8.5 billion in debt. Today, the “rainy day” fund is approaching $1.5 billion and the budget is balanced.
“We are going in the right direction now,” Faber told about 100 people Friday during the Allen County Republican Party luncheon at the Elks. “Ohio is doing better, we are doing better, but better is still not good enough, because if we sit on our laurels than we should expect to go back to the bad old days of 2010, and 2009 and 2008.”
Survey: Ohio business owners hold off on hiring
More Ohio small and mid-size business owners are expecting higher sales and profits over the next six months compared to a year ago, according to new survey results released today by The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
PNC Bank, Ohio’s fourth largest bank by deposits held, surveys business owners and customers twice a year, gauging sentiments about the economy.
On a less-positive note, the same Ohio business owners told PNC that even though business looks to be improving, it doesn’t mean they plan to hire more people.
“Ohio business owners are still very guarded,” said Mekael Teshome, PNC economist.
The outlook has brightened across the local, national and global economies, Teshome said. For example, six months ago the U.S. government was shutdown.
But small Ohio business owners — who do the majority of the hiring — are looking for more goods news before they risk the investment.
“I see this as indicating businesses are pretty much playing defense. There has been some volatility in Ohio’s economy. We hit a bit of a speed bump in the fourth quarter” from declines in government employment, Teshome said.
“I think that speed bump had something to do with firms taken a more precautionary approach,” he said.
“The other reason I think is the manufacturing rebound is really approaching a more mature, more advanced stage. I think there will be continued improvement in this sector, but not of the same magnitude we saw in 2012,” he said.
