Mark’s Musings – June 3, 2015
Mark Fortune
There was big news out of Amazon last week. They announced that several hundred jobs are coming to Licking County as part of a new data center with nearly a thousand jobs in Ohio total. Sales tax now will be charged on all Amazon purchases in the state of Ohio. Amazon has said in various reports that it expects to collect between $150 million and $300 million in sales tax. Ohio retailers are celebrating this news as it now levels the playing field somewhat. Let’s return to the numbers above. Just to give you an idea of how much that represents in sales – according to my calculator – Amazon would have over $2 billion in sales to get $140 million in sales tax revenue at 7 percent (which is not our local tax rate – I just used it for simplicity). And yes, that’s a lot of stuff. I used all of the spaces on my calculator for the billion so I could be wrong on this. Right now it might be best to be in a business that Amazon cannot compete. Auto care, health care services, financial, things you need right NOW – etc. etc.
I watched the Tribe win in extra winning’s against Seattle – and take three of four in the series. The Tribe seems to be gaining some ground and moving in the right direction. Even the Cubs are in decent shape this year. So far.
Several of our local track & field athletes are headed to the state meet this weekend. You can read about them inside this issue. We need to say great job to all of these young men and women for representing our community in such a positive manner.
There are no less than 18 declared Republican candidates for President with several others in the exploration mode – which includes Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Ohio Governor John Kasich is said to be a potential candidate – and made an appearance last week in South Carolina where he feted a proposed flat tax.
Dr. Ben Carson is one of the more interesting candidates and spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013. Speaking not 10 feet from where President Obama was sitting he referenced health care and political correctness. He became an overnight conservative sensation following that speech yet claims to not be affiliated with any political group – which interestingly enough – makes him even more popular.
Needless to say it will be an invigorating – intriguing – insightful – several months on the campaign highway. Not much of a trail anymore.
Can the Cavs do it? It’s time for Cleveland to bring home a championship and everyone knows that LeBron is the man with the cast to do it. Go Cavs.
Category: Mark's Musings, Opinion
