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The Ohio Senate Finance Committee passed their version of the Ohio budget yesterday – June 17th – in the early evening. One Democrat Amendment was agreed to by majority Republicans. The content of the amendment will create a tax expenditure review commission in the state of Ohio. This new committee will review tax loopholes periodically to see if they are accomplishing their purpose or a tax give-away to the politically well connected. This is a policy the Governor originally proposed in his budget and has long had public support from tax policy experts from the left and the right.
This is a small victory compared to tax cuts of $1.7 billion that should be invested in schools, local governments, and infrastructure. Hopefully the tax expenditure review commission will review poorly targeted tax credits and loopholes – such as the expansion of the business tax cut proposed by the Ohio Senate – and realize that it is ineffective at job creation, leads to an unfair administration of Ohio taxes, and may lead to tax avoidance.