Dr. Richard Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics at Ohio University, testified before the Ohio House Ways and Means Committee on a proposed major tax overhaul, as reporter by Jim Provance in the Toledo Blade on June 22.
Supporters of the plan, however, argued before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday that the shift away from taxing income toward taxing consumption is exactly what Ohio needs to spur job growth.
“This revenue package is not a giveaway to the rich,” said Richard Vedder, professor emeritus at Ohio University, an adjunct scholar with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, and a big fan of Gov. John Kasich’s now dead proposal to greatly expand the sales tax base to professional services.
“[The latest plan] on the whole is good on equity grounds…,” Mr. Vedder said. “It is very rare to have a pro-growth tax plan that also scores well on equity and transparency grounds, which, I think, this one seems to do.”
Either way, the plan is expected to become law. Majority Republicans on a joint House-Senate conference committee will insert it into the $61.7 billion, two-year budget by Tuesday. It is expected to reach Mr. Kasich’s desk by the end of next week….
The GOP plan also sets the stage for the state to gradually reduce its role of the last 40 or so years of subsidizing local property tax bills.
Mr. Vedder, however, argued that the current system misleads voters as to who really pays the bill.
“It adds confusion and complexity to the tax code and violates basic canons of public finance calling for transparency,” he said. “Since state funds used to compensate local governments for the property tax rollback are themselves the product of taxation [at the state level], this is just a move to use a disguised method of tax payment instead of taxing people directly.”
Vedder also was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch and the Tallmadge Express.
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