If you think that Ohio’s business-tax climate is unfriendly to companies, think again.

That the conclusion of “Location Matters: A Comparative Analysis of State Tax Costs on Business,” just released by The Tax Foundation (www.taxfoundation.org), a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C.

The report’s authors examined in detail the business taxes in all 50 states, breaking down the impact on two categories of companies: “mature” firms and new firms.

Surprise: Ohio ranked in the top five for most business-friendly — meaning it had among the lowest tax burdens — on both mature and new firms.

And it was the only state in both the top-5 lists.

This comes as no surprise to William Duncan, the mayor of Oakwood and himself a CPA. Duncan noted that just in the last few years, Ohio has eliminated the personal property tax on manufacturing equipment and inventories, reduced the top marginal rate of the Ohio income tax, and will repeal entirely the state’s estate tax in 2013.

Those steps, Duncan said, “certainly did improve the tax environment in the state of Ohio.”

THIS is a business cycle

Dayton Cyclery, 506 Wayne Ave., has launched a bike messenger service and a restaurant delivery service in downtown Dayton and surrounding neighborhoods.

The delivery zones include McPherson Town, St. Anne’s Hill, South Park, Sinclair Community College, Miami Valley Hospital and the Oregon District.

Hours are extensive: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to the most recent posts on the Dayton Cyclery Facebook Page at facebook.com/dayton.cyclery.

More information, call (937) 223-2453.

Small business hiring

Good news courtesy of my colleague Chelsey Levingston: Small businesses led the charge again for adding American jobs from January to February, Automatic Data Processing Inc. said last week.

This is the seventh month in a row small businesses have added more jobs than larger businesses.

Altogether, U.S. private businesses added 217,000 jobs from January to February, according to ADP, the New Jersey payroll processing firm that mines its data to tell which business sectors are adding jobs.

Small businesses (0 to 49 employees) saw employment rise by 108,000 month-to-month, while businesses with 50 to 499 employees added 88,000 jobs over the same time.

The largest companies added 20,000 jobs, according to ADP.

This is the reason small businesses are said to be the engines of the economy.

If you have a news tip or other information that you’d like BizInsider to know about, contact Mark Fisher at mfisher@DaytonDailyNews.com or by phone at (937) 225-2258.