In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Greg Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, called the proposed idea to replace the state’s income tax with a 2.75% flat tax a strong effort to improve the state’s overall tax climate.
“The property tax provisions of this bill undermine these principles by creating confusion on the part of property owners and needlessly causing revenue losses that impact local services, without any guarantee of long-term revenue replacement,” testified Glenn Miller, president of the Ohio County Commissioners Association. “Although some of these effects may be unintended by the sponsors, they are still damaging and should not be allowed to move forward.
“Counties have a dual role in the property tax system as both administrators and providers of services supported by this revenue stream,” Miller said. “The services provided by county government are some of the most direct interactions many Ohioans have with any level of government, including public safety, administering elections, protecting Ohio’s children, building roads, and providing various social services.