Tax reform spurring Ohio, business leaders say

COLUMBUS — Companies making capital investments in the state think tax reform enacted two years ago played an important role in their decisions to expand in Ohio, according to the head of a state coalition working to inform companies about the changes.

Ed Burghard, executive director of the Ohio Business Development Coalition, provided testimony about awareness of the tax reforms to members of the Ohio Senate’s Ways and Means Committee, which met this morning.

Sen. Amstutz, a Wooster Republican, is chairman of the committee, which focuses on policies that affect government revenues, tax collections and economic development.

The meeting was one of the first committee gatherings of the 127th General Assembly, and Amstutz invited Burghard and Nick Lashutka, director of government relations for the Ohio Business Roundtable, to discuss tax reform efforts and their effect on economic development and business growth in the state.

The Ohio Business Development Coalition receives funding from the Ohio Department of Development to develop and implement marketing and research campaigns aimed at attracting new companies and helping existing ones remain in operation and expand in the state.

It is working to focus executives’ attention on tax reforms that, by 2010, will reduce personal income tax; eliminate taxes on corporate profits and net worth and property taxes on inventory and machinery and equipment; and lower sales taxes, according to information distributed to committee members.

Burghard said the coalition has completed 62 interviews with executives from companies that have made capital investments in the state. Of the total, 60 percent "indicated the new tax reform was a “somewhat to very important” consideration in selecting Ohio," while 66 percent were willing to provide public endorsements of the state’s "positive business environment," according to the survey.

"Over the last 18 months, the atmosphere in Ohio has changed dramatically," he said. "You can actually feel it when you’re out there talking to companies and people involved in economic development.”