Sunday, April 20, 2008; Posted: 12:36 PM
State Rep. John Adams, R-Sidney, and the region's other legislators are part of a group of 19 pushing the bill introduced Monday.
"This idea is not conservative or liberal, left or right, it is just simple economics," Adams said. "When we tax the risk takers and job creators, we will have less of them."
Other states are flattening their top rates, and nine states have no income tax, Adams said.
Reducing the state's tax burden will draw more business and capital to the state; more people paying other kinds of existing taxes make up the difference, they argue.
Adams points to New Mexico, which flattened its top income tax rate and now enjoys budget surpluses and fast-growing tax revenue.
Ohio's income tax provides about 43 percent of the state's revenue.
Ohio has a high tax burden, Adams said, citing an economic competitiveness index of states produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The council is a conservative association of legislators who promote limited government and free markets.
Ohio ranks 47 out of 50 in ALEC's 2007 study, including ranking 45th in the top personal income tax rate and 48th in the top corporate income tax rate. Between 1997 and 2006 the state has lost 362,601 people as the result of those who have moved to the state compared to those who have left it.
The nine states without income tax rank between No. 3 and No. 38 in ALEC's report, including South Dakota at No. 3, Wyoming at No. 4 and Tennessee at No. 5.
For the first time in six years, in 2007 states as a whole enacted more tax breaks than tax and fee increases, according to Stateline.org. It signals the fierce competition among states for jobs.
Republican representatives Matt Huffman, of Lima, Cliff Hite, of Findlay, Jim Zehringer, of Celina, and Lynn Wachtmann, of Napoleon, are co-sponsors of the bill.
Huffman has talked about the area's legislators coming together as a coalition but said this bill was more a result of them believing the same thing. While the legislation has little chance of passing with Gov. Ted Strickland in office, it's laying groundwork to further reduce the state's income-tax burden, Huffman said.
Huffman also is pushing for spending less. As state agencies found $730 million to cut to plug a deficit in the current budget, Huffman asked if that spending was needed in the first place. He's also found inefficiencies in his committee work, such as the need to reapprove spending for money spent in previous budget cycles. He did just that when the state paid for $230,000 worth of capital work at the now closed Lima Correctional Institution.
"How many other $230,000s are there out there?" Huffman said.
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