Make over $208K a year? This tax cut’s for you

ZDarrel Rowland

ach Schiller has been a burr in the side of lawmakers and their tax policies for several years now. Last week, the research director for nonprofit Policy Matters Ohio was at it again.

Here’s his bottom line on a new study of tax increases and cuts by Ohio legislators and Gov. Mike Dewine so far this year: “The main tax measures in Ohio’s new budget bills will bring tax increases on average for lower- and middle-income taxpayers, while those at the top of the income scale on average will see cuts.”

In plain language, the rich get richer and the poor (and middle class) get poorer. In fact, only the most affluent 5% of Ohioans (those making more than $208,000 a year) wind up with a net tax cut.

The data comes from an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group that models tax systems.

Here’s the breakdown by income group outlined by Schiller:

The poorest fifth of Ohio taxpayers, with income below $24,000 a year, will pay an average increase of $2, or 0.02% of income. Middle-income tax filers who make between $42,000 and $63,000 a year will average a $93-ayear increase, or 0.18% of income. Those in the top 1%, making $496,000 or more, will get an average cut of $746, or 0.06% of income.

While the state budget cut income taxes, it required sales tax collections by online retailers. And the transportation budget raised the fuel tax by 10.5 cents a gallon for gasoline and 19 cents for diesel.

It’s the same-old, sameold for Schiller: “The combined impact of the budget bills approved this year continues the long-time pattern of shifting taxes away from the most affluent Ohioans.”

Taxpayers pay hotel bills

One aspect of President Donald Trump’s tax cut is costing Ohio taxpayers some money.

The sweeping changes at the end of 2017 eliminated miscellaneous itemized deductions, which out-oftown state lawmakers had long used to help offset their bills for hotel rooms while on state business in Columbus.

Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow noted that the Ohio House responded by enacting a policy effective Aug. 1 granting a $65-a-night subsidy for hotel rooms to legislators who live 60 miles or more from the Statehouse.

The money can be claimed for each day of committee meetings and House voting sessions. “The (total) cost will vary depending on the number of days” involved, a spokeswoman said.

Senate President Larry Obhof, R-medina, told Ludlow his chamber is examining whether to give senators reimbursement for hotel rooms as well.

Legislators cannot receive flat per-diem payments for their expenses because they are forbidden by the Ohio Constitution.

Lawmakers do receive 52-cents-a mile reimbursement for their round-trip journeys to the Statehouse.

Householder gives up

House Speaker Larry Householder was more than a bit peeved when a couple of political action committees ran TV and radio commercials questioning his ethics while supporting the primary challenger he vanquished last year, Ludlow notes.

Days before the election, the Republican filed a defamation lawsuit against the Honors and Principles PAC and Conservative Alliance PAC, contending they had falsely and unfairly smeared him.

Fast forward to this year. Householder dismissed the damages lawsuit last week after the PAC and associated individuals filed a motion for summary judgment.

The motion claimed the advertisements directed at Householder consisted of protected opinion and were “true or substantially true” and could not be deemed false statements. Besides, it argued, as a public figure, Householder has a high hurdle to clear to prove malicious intent.

Columbus lawyer Marion H. Little, who defended the parties pursued by Householder, told Ludlow he intends to try to recover his clients’ legal fees and other costs from Householder.

drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland