The Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Cost of Government Day analysis also examines state spending relative to the states’ economies.
Said ATR President Grover Norquist of the most recent report, “The beginning of the study period showed a strong time for state budgets, with revenues climbing and a bullish stock market. However, when state tax revenues began to slow in 2001, states did not respond by slowing spending. Many states even raised taxes to keep spending growth high.”
Ohio increased spending relative to the state’s contribution to national income faster than any other state in the years 1998-2003.
David Hansen, president of the Ohio-based Buckeye Institute, is not surprised by the finding.
“The fallacy of growing an economy through government spending is perhaps no better refuted than in Ohio,” Hansen said. “The state’s spending spree and resulting taxes have left Ohio’s once-powerful economy in shambles. Jobs, businesses, and especially young adults–the state’s very future–are fleeing Ohio’s tax-and-spend policies for the growth and prosperity afforded elsewhere.”
— Elizabeth Karasmeighan
