Article source for : Toledo's January unemployment rate highest among Ohio's major cities
Mar 4, 2008 WTVG "story":http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=5997669 :
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Toledo's rate of unemployment tops the list of Ohio's major cities at 9.3 percent. In northwest Ohio, two counties-- Ottawa and Huron-- have rates above 10 percent. The Ohio county-by-county unemployment figures for January were released Tuesday by the "Ohio Department of Job and Family Services":http://jfs.ohio.gov/. *Ohio's unemployment rate is the second highest in the region*, with Michigan's unemployment even higher. Officials reported last week that Ohio's overall unemployment for January was 5.5 percent, down from 5.8 the month before.
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h2. Ohio's Big Cities
1. Toledo 9.3
2. Youngstown 8.3
3. Cleveland 8.1
4. Dayton 7.6
5. Canton 7.5
5. Lorain 7.5
7. Springfield 7.4
8. Mansfield 7.1
9. Elyria 6.6
9. Euclid 6.6
11. Hamilton 6.5
12. Akron 6.4
13. Parma 6.3
14. Cuyahoga Falls 5.7
15. Cincinnati 5.6
15. Kettering 5.6
17. Lakewood 5.3
18. Mentor 5.0
19. Columbus 4.9
20. Cleveland Hts. 4.6
"Census and city profile info":http://www.city-data.com/city/Ohio.html
h2. Area Counties
1. Ottawa 10.9
2. Huron 10.4
3. Lucas 8.6
4. Erie 8.3
5. Fulton 8.1
6. Henry 7.8
7. Sandusky 7.6
8. Seneca 6.5
9. Wood 6.4
10. Williams 6.3
11. Defiance 6.2
12. Paulding 5.8
13. Putnam 5.6
14. Hancock 4.9
"Ohio County map":http://www.dot.state.oh.us/map1/cntymap.asp
h2. WSJ blames taxes
Mar 3, 2008 Wall Street Journal "opinion":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120450306595906431.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks :
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Ohio now ranks 47th out of 50 in economic competitiveness, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Ohio politicians deplore plant closings even as they impose the third highest corporate income tax in the country (10.5%) and the sixth highest personal income tax (8.87%).
Ohio is a "closed shop" state, which means workers can be forced to join a union whether they wish to or not. Many companies -- especially foreign-owned -- say they will not even consider such locations for new sites. States with "right to work" laws that make union organizing more difficult had twice the job growth of Ohio and other forced union states from 1995-2005, according to the National Institute for Labor Relations.
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h2. Toledo Blade blames taxes
June 2006 Toledo Talk "posting":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/16/2621 that pointed to a June 24, 2006 Toledo Blade editorial titled "Our Shrinking Cities":http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060624/OPINION02/606240317/-1/OPINION :
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While some blame the often harsh northern climate, *we blame taxes*: Ohio remains a high-tax state, and the resultant job loss, worsened by the steady erosion of manufacturing as an economic base, seems unrelenting.
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Mar 2, 2008 Toledo Blade editorial "encouraged":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/OPINION02/803020307/-1/OPINION Toledoans to vote FOR the city's 0.75 percent income tax surcharge that's on the Mar 4, 2008 ballot.
h2. Councilman blames taxes
June 2006 "posting":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/5/2607 about Toledo's one-year population decline being the 13th fastest in the U.S., Toledo City Councilman Frank Szollosi said:
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"It's an indication that taxes are too high in Toledo."
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Allegedly, Frank Szollosi last month "encouraged":http://taxbreakfortoledo.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/what-do-you-expect/ Toledoans to vote FOR Toledo's 0.75 percent income tax surcharge that's on the Mar 4, 2008 ballot.
h2. Tax unfriendly states
From a spring 2007 Toledo Talk "posting":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/article/778/Stats_on_Ohios_taxes_and_small_business_environment :
*Least tax friendly states - Top 5*
--(State ---- State and local tax burden as % of income)--
* Vermont ---- 14.1%
* Maine ---- 14.0%
* New York ---- 13.8%
* Rhode Island ---- 12.7%
* Ohio ---- 12.4%
In the 2007 small business survival index "ranking":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/article/778/Stats_on_Ohios_taxes_and_small_business_environment#Small_Biz_Index_Ranking, which is about "Which states are low on taxes and light on government regulations?", Ohio is near the bottom, ranked 38th.
h2. Giving employees a raise
Jul 8, 2007 Toledo Blade story titled "As area cities lose residents,villages and townships surge":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/NEWS16/70708001 :
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Tuffy Associates Corp. is in the midst of moving its 42-person national headquarters office from 5577 Airport Hwy. in Toledo to 7150 Granite Circle in Sylvania Township. Chief Financial Officer Karen Vellequette said only two employees reside in the city.
“The rest of us live in Michigan, Perrysburg, Waterville, the suburbs. Some of them don’t get credit for the [2.25 percent] Toledo [wage] tax,” Ms. Vellequette said. *Moving out of Toledo effectively results in a pay raise for most of the firm’s employees*. She herself is one of the census statistics, having moved from Point Place to Ida Township, Michigan, five years ago.
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The 2008 phone book White Pages indicates a business called Tuffy Associates Corp National Headquarters is "located":http://www.bizdays.com/metro/bizid-605168.html at 1414 Baronial Plaza Drive in Toledo. The move must not have worked out. But this is an interesting thought that may exist for other small businesses : _"Moving out of Toledo effectively results in a pay raise for most of the firm’s employees."_ The same thing may exist for moving a business out of Ohio.
