(The Center Square) – Taxpayers will pay for the Cleveland Browns new stadium, and Ohio is officially the 15th state with a flat tax after Gov. Mike DeWine signed the state’s new operating budget.
In an announcement made in the early morning hours Tuesday, the second-term Republican said the budget prioritizes children and develops the state’s workforce.
“This budget builds upon my commitment to make Ohio the best place for everyone to live their version of the American Dream,” DeWine said. “It prioritizes our children, empowers our workforce, and strengthens our communities. We are investing in the people of Ohio, not just today, but for generations to come.”
DeWine issued 67 line-item vetoes in the budget, the most in his two terms as governor, but kept the plan that takes $600 million from individual taxpayers in the state’s unclaimed funds and funnels it to the Browns’ $2.4 billion stadium project in Brook Park.
One of the nation’s leading experts on taxpayer-funded stadiums, J.C. Bradbury of Kennesaw State University, called the plan “willful ignorance” and the idea a planned tax capture will return more than $600 million to the state in tax revenues is wrong.
“It has to come from other priorities or out of taxpayers’ pockets,” Bradbury recently told The Center Square. “This isn’t forward-thinking, it’s willful ignorance. This is an F answer in Econ 101.”
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, along with Democrats, had urged DeWine to veto the plan.
A Cleveland law firm that includes former Attorney General Marc Dann and former state Rep. Jeffrey A. Crossman said last week it will file a lawsuit challenging the Browns’ plan if DeWine signed it.
The state’s new flat income rate is 2.75%, cutting the highest tax bracket from 3.125% for anyone making more than $26,050 a year.
DeWine vetoed a provision that would require the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to ask for a federal waiver to stop people from using SNAP benefits from buying sugar-sweetened drinks.
DeWine said he issued the veto because of specific language that could delay the waiver. Instead, he created a working group to make the waiver request more efficient and effective.
He also vetoed a plan to only allow school districts to save 40% of their operating budget for the next year, saying it would lead to more levy elections and potentially raise property taxes.
Also, DeWine vetoed requirements that forces public libraries to keep any materials related to sexual orientation or gender identity separate from other materials.
DeWine said the new law is vague and existing law already keeps “obscene materials” away from children that should be enforced.
DeWine also vetoed a plan to make local and state school board elections partisan.
