There is a 800lb Gorilla in the room and no ones paying any attention. Stark County is in a depression and instead of the communities using logic to develop real economic development they play school yard tactics and spin the word economic development to assure the public that these annexations, levies and any other sock it to your pocket is in our best interest.
The fact is we are not cost competitive on a global scale. The US has a corporation tax of 35%, were as China and other areas have 20%. http://www.nber.org/tmp/80210-w13756.pdf
Ohio has an additional 5.1% tax, creating a 38.1% overall corporation tax. Now factor in any additional tax like Canton City 2% then it becomes identifiable why businesses begin to seek better potentials, especially across the pond.
In South East Asia the average educated on the floor worker makes $80 USD and the front office worker with a Bachelors degree makes $700 to $900 USD a month. The total burden rate for a company is approximately $30,000 USD. For many US businesses the average insurance for a hundred employees and familys was $30,000USD in 2006 and has increase 20% per year.
There are other factors to our community’s troubles such as the infrastructure for mass transits, the high cost of worker’s compensation, higher wages and benefits, lower educational attainment of the workers and this list is just the beginning.
We need to reform our thinking to become globally competitive in order to attract and retain businesses to spark those monies for government, schools and other projects that we have become accustom too.
Hello Gorilla.
