We need to fight this HARD! I say we start a letter writing campaign and attend some of these backward meetings.
INCOME TAX IDEA FLOATED BY BOARD
Columbus schools considering new ways to close budget gap
Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2004
NEWS 01B
By Bill Bush
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The cash-strapped Columbus school district could turn to an income tax for help, the Board of Education said yesterday.
Board member Jeff Cabot asked Treasurer Jerry Buccilla to outline all of the district's potential revenue options, including adding an income tax.
Buccilla is to report back by April 22.
Cabot said he wants to know whether an income tax would move the tax burden to individual workers from commercial property.
"It may essentially be a tax shift from commercial and industrial to individual'' taxpayers, Cabot said.
In Franklin County, only the Canal Winchester, Pickerington and Reynoldsburg school districts have an income tax.
Before yesterday, the idea that an income tax could be tapped to close a deficit that could be as high as $85 million by next school year had not been publicly entertained by any board member.
The only new revenue discussed has been an operating levy, which would raise property taxes. Board members have said that likely would be placed on the November ballot.
"I just want to make sure we leave no stone unturned to look for every possibility,'' Cabot said after a special meeting of the board yesterday. "The question really is what the effect would be.''
A half-percent income tax would raise about $34 million a year for the district, equal to 3.8 mills of property tax, according to Gary Gudmundson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation.
A Columbus resident with an adjusted gross annual income of $30,000 would pay $150 a year on a half-percent income tax.
Like a property tax, an income tax would have to be approved by voters, and could be permanent or designed to expire afer a certain number of years.
Unlike property taxes, corporations don't pay school income taxes; people do.
"Certainly, it generates revenue from income (rather) than property, so I think it's pretty clear that it would shift the responsibility -- or the burden, if you want to call it that -- to wage earners,'' Gudmundson said.
And unlike municipal income taxes, which are paid by both residents and those who work in the municipality, only residents of the school district would pay this, Gudmundson said.
Anything taxed as income by Ohio, including pensions, annuities, capital gains and alimony, also would be taxed by the school district.
Social Security, disability pay, survivors' benefits, welfare, child support, gifts, inheritance, workers' compensation and railroad retirement benefits would not be taxed.
Asked why an income tax proposal hadn't surfaced until now, board President Stephanie Hightower said it is merely an attempt to be responsible by covering all options, and it "may be the shortest discussion we have at the table.''
A community committee has recommended that the Bexley school district ask voters to approve an income tax in November. The committee was formed after Bexley voters rejected an 8.75-mill operating levy last May.
The committee recommended a 0.75 percent income tax and the repeal of a 3.5-mill property tax, saying the district could have fewer or smaller levies and relieve the burden on residents living on fixed incomes.
bbush@dispatch.com
Columbus Townhall > Forum > Politics > Local (Moderators: Peter, CTH Public Relations)
Topic: Income Tax Idea Floated By Columbus School Board
