Today, the U.S.Department of Labor announced that theeconomy added 151,000 jobs in October, but this was not enough to make a dentin the national unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. Anemic economic growth andthe government’s failure to properly address it through less spending and lowertaxes are the reasons why, on Tuesday, voters told their elected officials thatthe government had to change course. Now that we know the names of most winners,several members of the new crop of governors and state legislators arepreviewing their plans for getting the economy back on track. InOhio, Governor-elect John Kasich saidthat he would deliver on a promise to cut the state’s income tax in his firstbudget and announced plans to stop a new passenger train project. Hisstatements are welcome news for Ohio, which has the 18th higheststate and local tax burden in the nation and the third worst business taxclimate in the country according to the Tax Foundation.Further, Mary McCleary of the Buckeye Institute said “building the rail will cost $517.6 million with$400 million coming from the federal government and $117.6 million from Ohiotaxpayers.” Additionally, McCleary points out that the new rail system willrequire subsidies to operate. “The annual subsidy required to sustain trainoperations will be $12.7 million or roughly 16.1 cents per passenger per mileif the expected 478,000 people ride annually. If ODOT correctly estimates therailway distance between Cincinnati and Cleveland at 256 miles, the train willrequire an $82.44 subsidy per round trip ticket.” With these kinds ofcosts, it’s hard to see a real benefit for taxpayers. Ofcourse, these are still just promises until they become law. Rest assured, NTUwill be keeping its eye on this and other promises made by the new crop ofgovernors and legislators to ensure that the promises do become realities.
