October 9, 2006
Op-Ed by Jonathan Williams in Lima (OH) News
Taxing times in Buckeye State
BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS, TAX FOUNDATION - Oct. 9, 2006
All politics are local, and taxes are certainly no exception. With Ohio’s hotly contested gubernatorial race heating up between Congressman Ted Strickland and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, taxes are unquestionably on the minds of voters as they prepare to cast their ballots in November.
A fiscal mess caused by years of overspending has trapped Ohio in a vicious cycle of tax hikes and deficits and it is clear the next governor will have to address this issue. In the Tax Foundation’s recently released ranking of combined state-local tax burdens in the 50 states, Ohio ranked third highest, taking 12.0 percent of its citizens’ income compared to a national average of 10.6 percent. Only New York and Maine will be extracting a higher tax burden than Ohio this year.
