The Toledo Blade: The Governor’s Tax Proposal Would Harm Most Ohioans

According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, taxpayers in the top 1 percent of earners would enjoy an average income tax reduction of more than $13,000, and earners in the next 4 percent would get an average reduction of $1,395. By contrast, taxpayers in the bottom 20 percent would receive an average reduction of only $16; those in the middle 20 percent would get reductions of $219.

Those tax cuts might still sound like a good deal for everyone — but the money to pay for them has to come from somewhere. Mr. Kasich plans to finance the cuts in part with a 0.5 percent increase in the state sales tax, from 5.75 percent to 6.25 percent. The regressive tax would fall disproportionately on lower-income Ohioans, who pay more in sales tax as a share of their incomes than middle and upper-class earners.

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