Budget: Investing for Growth

Policy Matters Ohio proposed a tax plan to reinstate state income tax rates on the highest income brackets earned by the wealthiest Ohioans, thereby closing big and unproductive tax breaks. The plan also supports and emboldens Ohio’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that provides tax assistance to low-income families with children. Policy Matters Ohio worked with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) to develop this new revenue strategy and these organizations used the REMI model to evaluate the economic impact of investing increased revenues into public services. The revenue plan involved restoring the 7.5 percent income-tax rate on income over $217,400 approved in 1992, adding a new 8.5 percent rate on income over $500,000, repealing the business income deduction enacted in 2013, making the Ohio EITC refundable, removing a cap on how much of a credit citizens receive, and raising the EITC to 20 percent above the federal amount. The analysis found that enacting these policies and updating the tax structure could generate $2.6 billion in state revenue.

Policy Matters Ohio – Budget: Investing for Growth [full PDF]

Comprehensive Gaming Industry Analysis: State of Louisiana

In collaboration with the UMass Donahue Institute, Spectrum Gaming Group measured the economic impact generated by the comprehensive gaming industry in the state of Louisiana by using the REMI Tax-PI model. The analysis divided into evaluations of the baseline gaming environment and a prospective future gaming landscape that were assessed through 2025. Both scenarios were each simulated in two different ways to reflect the reallocation of consumer spending toward gaming. Researchers put forth their findings, conclusions, and potential threats in order to provide an overview of the various conditions associated with operating gaming establishments in Louisiana and what the future may hold for the industry as a whole.

Spectrum Gaming Group – Comprehensive Gaming Industry Analysis: State of Louisiana [full PDF]

Northern Extension of Interstate 49: Facilitating International & Domestic Commerce & Tourism

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development used their REMI TranSight model to evaluate the long-term economic benefits of the extension of Interstate 49 from Shreveport, Louisiana to Kansas City, Missouri. The northern extension of I-49 is a four-lane, divided, fully controlled access highway, on new location, approximately 36 miles in length, in Caddo Parish, Louisiana. The I-49 corridor’s principal purpose is to improve system linkage and accessibility in support of international and domestic commerce, as well as tourism. For a transportation investment, the TranSight model estimated the impacts of the initial construction and the long-term impacts that the project’s benefits will yield to the economy. Researchers discovered that the value to the state of Louisiana associated with extending I-49 from Shreveport to Kansas City is an increase of 5,687 jobs, $596 million in gross state product, and $1.26 billion in personal income by 2039 over the baseline “no build” scenario.

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development – Northern Extension of Interstate 49: Facilitating International & Domestic Commerce & Tourism [full PDF]

A Storm to Remember: Hurricane Harvey and the Texas Economy

The economic effects of Hurricane Harvey on the state of Texas were evaluated by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts shortly after the hurricane hit eastern Texas in late August 2017. The Texas Comptroller used a 70-sector, 24-region REMI model to calculate the effect of losses and gains on projected gross state product for the duration of the time period chosen for this analysis. The assessment found that the diversity and resiliency within Texas’s economy will help protect the state from the impacts of Hurricane Harvey. Researchers identified that the quick recovery times for businesses, in addition to the investments made by communities and businesses to rebuild, will counteract the negative economic impact of lost productivity and damage to structures. Even upon the completion of this report, the Texas Comptroller, Legislative Budget Board, and Governor’s office are continuing to monitor revenues and expenditures related to the devastating hurricane.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts – A Storm to Remember: Hurricane Harvey and the Texas Economy [full PDF]

The Economic Impact of Crude Oil Transportation in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region: A Preliminary Study

Analysts from Central Michigan University and the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis conducted a preliminary study that assessed the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway Region (GLR) and the economic contribution of crude oil transportation across the region. The study used datasets from both Canada and the United States in order to harmonize them into one data source that would allow for a region-wide, dynamic economic impact analysis (including amenity costs and benefits) of the oil transportation across the GLR. The REMI model was incorporated into this analysis to help categorize the Canadian and American datasets into future inputs and researchers included the model in the next steps for this preliminary study to estimate the current contributions to the GLR economy at the county level and the future contributions to the additional investments in the sector.

Central Michigan University, Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis – The Economic Impact of Crude Oil Transportation in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region: A Preliminary Study [full PDF]