While members of the House say the state budget they passed is balanced, senators are worried they’re going to have to cut as much as $400 million from it. One research group is hoping lawmakers will look at closing some tax breaks before taking an ax to state programs.
There are 129 tax exemptions, credits and deductions in the budget, and various groups have suggested getting rid some of them. At the top of the list for Zach Schiller of the liberal leaning group Policy Matters Ohio is a tax break for small businesses called pass-through entities, which has been expanded since it was created in 2013. He says it’s too small to allow businesses to hire more workers, but is adding up to half a billion dollars a year.
“To me, I see it as it’s like flying an airplane over the state of Ohio and throwing money over the side.”
Schiller says this exemption is now the third largest tax break in the budget, just one of $9 billion in breaks for a variety of business and other groups in Ohio.
