Central Ohio’s Conservatives Abandoning Pro-Business Principles?

A bunch of Central Ohio’s largest employers are supporting a tax increase in Columbus and this is forcing Ohio’s conservatives like sleezy Republican lawyer Bill Todd and blogger Matt Naugle to choose between their principles: pro-business or anti-tax.

It’s a tough choice because their entire argument against higher taxes is based on the false belief that higher taxes will drive away businesses and, in turn, cause a loss of jobs.

The problem with this belief is that it assumes all businesses are the same. It assumes that every company is looking for cheap labor and cheap land and a local government that doesn’t give a shit what companies do to the environment or to their employees.

This model works great if your company is a 1950′s-era manufacturer – but it completely breaks down in 21st century America.

If your business depends entirely on cheap labor and limited local regulation then odds are your company has already moved the majority of its operations overseas. And these jobs aren’t coming back. We can’t compete with India and China for their low wages and their complete lack of concern for employee well-being and environmental damage.

But the companies that employ thousands in Central Ohio – companies like AEP, Nationwide and NetJets – are different. They are looking for smart and educated employees. And companies like this aren’t going to attract their employees to a shitty town that can’t even provide basic services for its citizens.

These companies know that and that’s why they are supporting this small tax increase.

At the end of the day, no one wants to pay more taxes than they have to. Myself included.

But .5% really seems like a small price to pay to live in a growing, thriving town like Columbus Ohio.