Like Mary Lightbody, who we introduced to you last month, Ohio House Democrat candidate Allison Russo wants to raise taxes on Ohioans. And like Lightbody, Allison Russo recently let slip in a public forum that she likely wants to raise state income taxes, especially income taxes on small businesses.
Russo, who just moved to Ohio 3 years ago, is running for the open state house seat for Ohio House District 24.
Here’s what she had to say as reported in the Columbus Dispatch:
On the revenue side, Republicans have cut the state income tax rate by 30 percent since 2005. “What we’re finding is the payoff from that has not lived up to what was promised,” Russo said.
She’s also not a fan of exempting Ohio pass-through businesses and sole proprietors from paying income tax on the first $250,000 of income, plus a 40 percent cut over $250,000.
“I’m not sure very many people turned that into increasing jobs with good, livable wages,” she said.
According to the Ohio Department of Taxation, “this business income deduction will enable a business owner who files single or married filing jointly to deduct 100% of business income up to $250,000 from the adjusted gross income they report on their Ohio personal income tax return. This deduction is the centerpiece of a major tax reform package that produced the largest overall tax reduction in the country – $2.7 billion over three years.”
These tax reforms came about because Ohio already has one of the highest burdens of any state in the nation. According to the 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index published by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Ohio ranked overall as the 45th worst state in the nation. Only Minnesota, Vermont, California, New York & New Jersey rank worse.
Much of this high ranking is due to Ohio’s extremely oppressive individual and corporate taxes. In fact, Ohio ranked as the 47th worst state in the nation on both individual and corporate taxes.
Like other liberal Democrats running this year, Allison Russo wants to raise Ohio’s already high income taxes even higher in order to fund universal healthcare. She also advocates eliminating all charter schools and other school choice programs in Ohio.
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Scott Pullins is an attorney, charter school board member, and a regular contributor for The Ohio Star. Photo “Allison Russo” by allisonrusso.com.
