(The Center Square) – While the last General Session of the Ohio Legislature ended just a day ago, advocacy groups are already looking ahead to the next one.
Policy Matters Ohio wants lawmakers to start next month with bipartisan legislation introduced at the close of the most recent session that dealt with limiting property taxes, free school meals, and giving more money to local communities.
“This bill is likely to be reintroduced at the start of the next General Assembly, as it should be,” said Bailey Williams, a Policy Matters Ohio tax researcher. “It shows that Ohio has the resources to make a tangible difference in Ohioans’ lives on issues from housing to hunger. The question is, will our lawmakers answer the needs of their constituents? Or will they continue to cater to the tech industry and Big Pharma?”
Senate Bill 342 was introduced by the two top members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee – Sens. Louis Blessing, R-Colerain Township, and Kent Smith, D-Euclid – and it contains several measures discussed and introduced in other bills over the two-year session.
One was a property tax circuit breaker introduced in the Senate in May. That bill would have created a $1,000 tax credit if a property tax bill amounts to more than 5% of a person’s income. If it had passed, Ohio would have joined 29 other states and Washington, D.C., with some type of tax circuit breaker.
The bill introduced by Blessing and Smith would also have provided free breakfast and lunch in schools and increased the share of state income tax revenue going to the Local Government Fund and the Public Library Fund from 1.7% to 2%.
To pay for the new expenses, the bill would have eliminated some corporation tax cuts to tech and pharmaceutical industries, made short-term rentals pay the state’s hotel tax, and tightened a tax break for limited liability company owners that pay lower income tax rates.
“Policy Matters Ohio applauds the work of Sens. Blessing and Smith,” Williams said. “SB342 is an excellent starting point for upcoming budget discussions.”