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New Report highlights Ohio’s Economic Reality:
The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) released a report on Jan. 31st ranking the states on multiple economic areas that impact our daily lives. Ohio has room for improvement in many areas.
- Financial & Asset Income: 34
- Business & Jobs: 36
- Housing & Homeownership: 41
- Health Care: 14
- Education: 36
Each ranking is broken down further into multiple categories in a manner that makes it easy to track our progress, successes, and failures. From this report we can see that:
Public Investments Matter:
Investments into education, healthcare, consumer rights, and programs designed to assist the working poor are identified for each state and ranked accordingly. This report highlights where Ohio is investing and where we are not. For example, Ohio ranks 39th for 3 and 4 year olds in preschool at a rate of 16.9%. Oklahoma is ranked first with 50% of kids going to preschool. If Ohio invests in universal preschool education, we will educate more young children and prepare them for better achievement in elementary school.
Not All Rankings are Created Equal:
Rankings help states measure our progress and identify ways to improve. However, multiple groups have very different rankings measuring different metrics. Groups like ALEC and the Tax Foundation utilize distorted measures to benefit states that adopt their ideological policy goals. CFED ranks states like Texas-37, Florida-39, and Nevada-50 poorly based on outcomes that impact the daily lives of the residents of those states. These states score well under ALEC and the Tax Foundation because they lack an income tax.
Investment will Improve Ohio’s Performance, Cuts will Not:
We know that investments into preschool education make a difference in a child’s life, investments in healthcare produce a healthier society, and a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit helps lift families out of poverty. While some really want to see Ohio’s income tax rates cut (again) there is no proof or evidence that this is a smart use of Ohio’s resources. The CFED highlights policy recommendations for Ohio and the impact that these investments will have on all of us.
