Three organizations ranging widely across the political spectrum knocked on the door of the legislature in May. They were the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions (conservative), the Center for Community Solutions (liberal) and the Greater Ohio Policy Center (middle of the road, more or less). The three called on lawmakers to get serious at last about examining the $7.5 billion a year in state tax expenditures, or credits, deductions, exemptions and exclusions.
The three didn’t have in mind erasing all of this tax relief, though they did propose eliminating a collection they deem obsolete or otherwise ineffective, generating roughly $300 million a year. Rather, they wanted lawmakers to set a mechanism for reviewing the tax breaks, keeping those that work well, jettisoning those that do not.
Republicans in charge of the state Senate did the right thing by including such a tax expenditure review committee in their version of the state budget. Unfortunately, the proposal did not survive the conference committee.
Why not? Tom Niehaus, the Senate president, explained the change of heart, arguing that the panel would be redundant, because the legislature already has committees that look at such matters. He added that “the fact that it came out of the budget does not mean that it’s not going to happen.”
The trouble is, those legislative committees haven’t performed the task yet, and some of the tax breaks date to the 1930s and 1950s.
Will Niehaus keep his word? Ohioans should hope so. These tax breaks differ little from direct spending. They deserve regular and close scrutiny just like any other program. You would think this Republican legislature would leap to the task.
