Taxpayers fleeing Ohio, IRS report shows

During Gov. John Kasich’s first two years in office, state-to-state migration shrank Ohio’s economy by more than $2.2 billion.

Ohio’s population dropped by a total of 33,000 in 2011 and 2012 as a result of taxpayers voting with their feet, based on the latest Internal Revenue Service data.

State-to-state migration was a net drain of $1.2 billion on Ohio’s economy in 2011 and $1.1 billion in 2012. Almost 24,000 fewer IRS returns were filed in Ohio in 2013 than in 2011 as a result of Ohioans moving to other states.

Ohio’s net population and income losses resulting from state-to-state migration were both the nation’s seventh-worst in 2012.

A net loss of taxpayers in the early years of Kasich’s first term signals a serious problem for the state, since Ohio’s private-sector job growth has slowed since 2011. A rebounding economy has produced increasing tax revenues, but it’s only a matter of time until the next downturn.

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