There are two bills that would make changes in how income taxes are collected by the biggest cities in Ohio. And a group that advocates for municipalities is very worried about them.
The bills would repeal a law passed early in the pandemic , and would redirect those taxes paid by employees working from home to where they live, not the cities where their offices are located.
Alison Goebel with said the bills would cost Ohio鈥檚 six largest cities, which generate more than half of the state鈥檚 GDP, over $300 million a year.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just say, 鈥榦k, we鈥檙e going to make this huge policy change in the way that income taxes is collected. Let the chips fall where they may.鈥� That鈥檚 irresponsible and is going to have a lot of consequences, probably many that we鈥檙e not even able to anticipate right now," Goebel said.
Goebel also notes a would hurt cities as well. That suit claims that three of its employees who live outside of Columbus shouldn鈥檛 have paid city income taxes while working during the state鈥檚 stay at home order.
Goebel said while many offices are still closed with employees working from home, now is not the time to change income tax policy.
鈥淭his has been in place for six decades. A six-month pandemic isn鈥檛 necessarily the best reason to completely gut and rearrange the tax structure without a clear solution for the communities that would be most impacted by these changes," Goebel said.
Goebel said while working from home may be around for a while, offices will still depend on sewer and water, roads and other systems maintained by cities.
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