Arts leaders in Cuyahoga County are currently studying the economic impact of arts and culture – estimated to be in the billions. Yet a key source of local arts funding has been in decline for over a decade. That's something arts leaders continue to focus on as well.
How the arts tax got started
In 2006, voters approved a 30-cent tax on packs of cigarettes to support the arts. The funds are distributed by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Declining population, a weak economy and a loss of corporate support prompted the 10-year tax. It was renewed ahead of schedule in 2015. It’s now set to expire in 2027, but voters will likely see a renewal before that – and possibly a request to increase the tax.
What it is not
The arts cigarette tax is separate from the 4.5-cent sin tax on cigarettes approved in 1990 to fund construction of venues for the Cleveland Browns, Guardians and Cavaliers.
Revenue on the decline
For the arts, cigarette tax revenue has decreased since its inception as smoking loses popularity and the county’s population declines. CAC data shows funding fell from a high of $19.5 million in 2008 to $11.7 million in 2022. In total, since February 2007, the tax is estimated to have brought in about $250 million, benefiting everything from the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to neighborhood mural projects and afterschool arts programs. Ideastream Public Media receives a portion of its funding from CAC.
Efforts to expand the tax
In March 2021, the Cleveland-based Arts & Culture Action Committee asked the state legislature to expand the tax. In January 2023, Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 164. It gave Cuyahoga County the right to ask voters to expand the tax to vape products and other forms of tobacco as well as to charge the cigarette tax as a percentage of the price rather than a flat 30 cents.
However, the state budget passed in July revoked that. The state now allows the county only to ask voters to increase the fixed-rate tax.
Fred Bidwell, chairman of the board for Assembly for the Arts and the head of the Arts & Culture Action Committee, said part of the reason for rolling back Senate Bill 164 is that the mechanism for collecting the funds on cigarettes - tax stamps - doesn't exist for vape products.
One other issue with the percentage-based proposal is it may conflict with Ohio’s 1998 agreement with the tobacco industry, requiring such taxes to be based on per-pack-prices, according to Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for DeWine.
“There are concerns a wholesale tax could endanger Ohio receiving funds due to noncompliance,” he said in a statement.
A property tax issue, which would have also provided arts funding, failed with voters in 2004. The city’s bed tax was increased in 2019 to fund improvements at Progressive Field and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but it did not specifically earmark funds for the arts.
What’s next
Bidwell said arts leaders plan to conduct listening sessions to determine the potential amount to increase the tax. He estimated that voters wouldn’t see an initiative on the ballot until next year.
