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The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran opposing Opinion-editorial pieces questioning if Ohio should eliminate the income tax. Charlie Earl of the Ohio Libertarian Party wrote a piece calling for Ohio to dump the income tax and Zach Schiller of Policy Matters Ohio wrote a piece identifying how dumping the income tax would hurt Ohio. (Policy Matters Ohio is a coalition member of One Ohio Now.)
Mr. Earl correctly identifies the impact of cutting the income tax in Ohio – cutting services. Mr. Earl says, “As a rule, states that get by without a personal income tax just spend less per resident than states that don’t.” This means less for education, higher college tuition, more potholes in the streets, and fewer community services that strengthen our communities. Most elected officials who oppose the income tax refuse to acknowledge that income tax cuts will lead to service cuts. They continue to believe in a misguided theory that lower taxes produce more revenue for the state. Eliminate the income tax, eliminate many great public services that strengthen our communities.
Mr. Earl also spouts a favorite talking point of anti-tax organizations. He believes that tax cuts attract business and people into Ohio. This just isn’t true. Research continues to show that people move for weather, jobs, and family. When you look at the mobility between all 50 states, people are moving to the energy boom or warmer climates – disregarding the income tax rates of those communities.
It is time for Ohioans to get real on tax cuts. They simply don’t work. As Mr. Schiller points out, Ohio has lost jobs over the past decade of income tax cuts. Eliminating the income tax will shift the tax load onto property and sales taxes – raising taxes on low and middle income Ohioans. Struggling businesses with low profits will have a higher tax load while highly profitable business owners will see their taxes cut… again.
