To the Editor:
I have been following the progress of House Bill 400 introduced by Representative John Adams (R-Sidney), now pending in the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee. This bill would eliminate the state income tax over the next ten (10) years. The bill is cosponsored by 30 of the 46 Republicans in the House.
The idea may be appealing to some folks but I urge caution. I did some checking and if this bill would become law it would have a devastating impact on our local school systems. Brown Local School District would lose $813,699 in fiscal year 2011. Carrollton Exempted School District would lose $3,649,368 in fiscal year 2011. Minerva Local School District would lose $2,930,251 in fiscal year 2011. These projections are chilling.
One of the cosponsors on House Bill 400 previously introduced a bill that would have dedicated 80% of the income tax revenue to our schools. Now he urges repeal of the income tax altogether. Our tax policies must make sense.
Therefore, this week I introduced House Bill 456 which would repeal the estate tax effective Jan. 1, 2011. We can eliminate this tax because our state and local governments can’t factor this revenue into their budgets. You can’t predict deaths or how much will be paid in estate taxes in any period of time.
Voters recently approved casino gambling and once operational those facilities will generate new revenue for our local governments so the time to eliminate the estate tax is now.
When we talk about tax reform let’s make sure the benefit outweighs the harm.
Mark D. Okey
State Representative
House District 61
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