Election Day is right around the corner and candidates are eager to tell you that Ohio is better off today than it was a year ago. The economy is doing better thanks to their diligent work, astute maneuvers, and their hard work, etc. etc……..Before you cast your vote, here are some statistics that while they may not help you voting, may give you a clue as to the state of the economy. The United States unemployment rate last September 2013 was 7.2% while this September 2014 is 5.9%. In 2009 when President Obama took office the economy had reached a 10% unemployment rate (Oct. 2009). The Ohio Unemployment rate today is 5.6% compared to 5.7% last month, and 7.4% last year. So, are we doing better? Is the economy mending? Are the taxes we pay now higher now than they were last year? Follow the links below for more information about the state of Ohio’s economy.
OHIO SMALL BUSINESSES Tax cut goes largely unclaimed
COLUMBUS
A tax cut for small business-owners in Ohio hasn’t been claimed as much as expected, leading some to shell out hundreds of millions in taxes that state law didn’t require them to pay.
Republicans including Gov. John Kasich have promoted the tax deduction as a way to help small businesses expand. Owners could take a 50 percent tax deduction on up to $250,000 of income for 2013.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that just 379,000 business filers took the tax deduction as of Oct. 19. That’s roughly half of the 717,000 filers the state’s Department of Taxation anticipated when the GOP-dominated Legislature passed the tax break in June 2013.
The newspaper reports that those business filers saved $287 million in income tax. That’s below the $533 million in projected savings. The average filer — those entities whose profit and income are one in the same — saved about $760.
Ohio small businesses paid way more income taxes than they had to last year
Ohio small businesses paid hundreds of millions of dollars in income taxes they didn’t have to, according to a story in the Columbus Dispatch.
Last year, Ohio business owners could receive a 50 percent tax deduction on up to $250,000 of income.
About 379,000 tax filers took the credit out of the 717,000 filers the state’s tax department thought could do so.
Those businesses saved $287 million of the $533 million the state believed could be saved.
Smaller businesses in Ohio turn cautious
Owners of small and medium-size businesses in Ohio are growing more cautious about the outlook for their sales and profit in coming months.
Just 39 percent of the business owners expect sales to increase in coming months, and only 29 percent predict a higher profit, according to PNC Bank’s semiannual survey of business owners released yesterday.
Both numbers are lower than the results of the spring survey and the one taken a year ago.
At the same time, though, the survey found that 82 percent of business owners are optimistic about their company’s prospects over the next six months. That percentage is consistent with previous surveys.
The seemingly contradictory results reflect an Ohio economy that is growing more slowly than the national economy, PNC economist Mekael Teshome said.
