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CAUV among topics reviewed

Is the Ohio tax code doing anything to make your farm or any other Ohio business less competitive? A little known group called the Select Committee on State and Local taxes is taking a look at that very question.

The group was formed, said Farm Bureau’s Scott Williams, to study whether the tax code "makes businesses make decisions that they otherwise wouldn’t make."

Williams, OFBF’s director of state legislative affairs, said the committee can do a great service for Ohio’s farms and businesses because "private enterprise can be more successful than government tax laws at determining winners and losers."

The committee includes three members from both the Ohio House and Senate, and the directors of the Ohio Tax Commission, Office of Budget and Management and Office of Development. Its specific duties are to study the current state and local tax structure to determine how the current tax structure affects various sectors of the economy, such as business, industry, and individuals; and to examine the current state and local tax structure's equity, simplicity, stability, neutrality and competitiveness. The committee will take ease of administration and compliance into consideration as an aspect of "simplicity" and will take long-term revenues into consideration as an aspect of "stability." It will also analyze who bears the ultimate tax burden with respect to any particular tax.

The committee will prepare a report of its findings and recommendations for the governor and General Assembly leaders by March 1.

Williams is regularly an interested observer at the committee meetings. He said so far, income, property, estate, personal tangible and corporate franchise taxes have all been discussed. The idea of expanding sales taxes into service industries like accounting or the legal profession has also been examined.

Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) also has been discussed. "Local school districts are looking at tax laws, that, to their way of thinking, erode revenue base," Williams said.

Williams said the farm community needs to pay attention to protecting the integrity of CAUV. "This is a program that benefits farmers, and we need to make sure it’s being used for the kinds of things it was intended for. If we don’t police this ourselves, someone else will police it for us."