TAX EXPENDITURE REVIEW COMMITTEE HOLDS FIRST MEETING

This week marked the first meeting of the Tax Expenditure Review Committee, a panel created during the last General Assembly and tasked with reviewing tax expenditures and making recommendations to the legislature. The committee heard testimony from Tax Commissioner Joe Testa, who gave the committee a 30,000-ft view of the Tax Expenditure Report, which is created alongside the budget bill by the Department of Taxation.

 

A tax expenditure, broadly speaking, is a term used to define any legislated deviation from the standardized tax base. This could be a tax exemption, credit, or deduction. In his testimony, Testa explained that in Ohio a tax expenditure is defined as a tax provision in the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) that exempts - either totally or partially - some people, types of income, items, services or property from taxes. "Tax expenditures take the form of tax benefits for certain taxpayers or activities and result in foregone revenue to the state," Testa explained.

 

The Tax Expenditure Report serves two purposes: one, it describes each expenditure and estimates how much money is not available to the State due to the foregone revenues for each expenditure. Then it compares those unavailable revenues to the amount of unavailable revenues from the previous biennium. This year's report counted 129 tax expenditures and calculated a total of $9.1 billion in foregone revenue for 2018, expanding to $9.4 billion in 2019.   

 

While Testa declined to give any advice or recommend a direction for the committee to take, he did agree with Sen. Eklund (R - Munson Township) when the Senator recommended the committee review all kinds of taxes, including the Local Government Fund and revenues collected by municipalities.

 

The committee's next hearing is currently not scheduled. 

• HB 278 - VEHICULAR ASSAULT. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Patton (R - Strongsville) and Rep. Kelly (D - Cincinnati), got its second hearing in the House Criminal Justice Committee. It increases the penalty for negligently causing serious physical harm to a law enforcement officer while operating a motor vehicle from a minor misdemeanor to a first-degree misdemeanor. Proponents praised the stiffer penalties as a deterrent for negligent behavior while driving, which risks the lives of law enforcement officers helping drivers or enforcing traffic laws on roadsides.

• HB 361 -TAX COMPAINTS. Sponsor testimony was held in the House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee for HB 361, which is sponsored by Rep. Greenspan (R - Westlake) and increases the timeframe within which boards of revision must decide property tax complaints. Current law allows 90 days, which Rep. Greenspan says isn't enough time. The bill expands the timeframe to 90 businesses days.

• HB 312 - POLITICAL SUBDIVISION SPENDING. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Schuring (R - Canton) and Rep. Greenspan, got a third hearing in the same committee. As we reported in last week's bulletin, the legislation regulates aspects of the use of credit cards and debit cards by political subdivisions.  One person testified as an interested party.

• HB 249 - SUBMETERING. Rep. Duffey's (R - Worthington) bill permitting the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to adopt rules governing residential utility reselling got a second hearing in the House Public Utilities Committee (PUCO). This legislation is not a preemption, as municipalities would maintain the right to regulate sub metering within their jurisdictions. Proponents said the bill restores balance between the consumers and the providers of utility services.

• SB 31 -   SEWAGE SYSTEMS. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Eklund (R - Munson Township), received proponent testimony during its second hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The bill would authorize a board of county commissioners or municipal legislative authority to elect to withdraw the county or municipal corporation from the application of any rule adopted by the Department of Health after January 1, 2014, that governs the design of household sewage treatment systems. During committee, an amendment adopted by Sen. Jordan (R - Ostrander) was adopted. The amendment clarifies jurisdiction language in the bill to account for entities like townships and also clarifies that testing of a household sewage system can stop after hitting a 10% failure rate. 

COMMITTEE SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 22, 2017

 

 

CHECK OUR WEBSITE MONDAY FOR ANY CHANGES TO THE COMMITTEE SCHEDULE