Thursday, May 22, 2003
The bulk of the tax-reform measure remains in the House committee for further study.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A longtime legislative advocate for state tax reform says he believes there is no better time than now to revise the state's tax laws.
"I think we need tax reform now. I think it's long overdue," said state Sen. J. Kirk Schuring.
The Stark County Republican has long championed the issue -- his proposal as a House member in last year's legislative session to create a state commission to study taxes led to the formation of the Committee to Study State and Local Taxes, which has recommended many changes to the state tax system.
A pending effort by majority House Republicans that would reform the state's personal income, corporate and other taxes is a step in the right direction, Schuring said.
"I think that's a good first start," he said.
About the bill
Under the tax-reform bill in the House Ways and Means Committee, property taxes paid by businesses on equipment and machinery would be replaced by a so-called "factor" tax that would be based on sales and business property and payroll.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Sally Kilbane, R-Rocky River, would also do away with the net-worth measure of corporate franchise tax for all companies except financial institutions and public utilities effective during the 2005 tax year, said a bill summary.
The proposal also makes major changes to the state's income tax structure.
The GOP-controlled House folded some of the reforms related to the state's sales tax into the recently passed, two-year $48.7 billion budget bill now pending in the Senate.
But the bulk of the tax-reform measure remains in the House committee for further study.
Timing
Despite earlier talk of including tax-reform provisions in the Senate's version of the state's two-year budget, to be unveiled later this month, GOP Senate leaders have said that tax reform probably won't make it into their version of the state's spending plan.
"Tax reform is a good idea. But philosophically, it's not a good time to be instituting it," Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, said recently.
Schuring, a first-term senator, said he will continue to push for tax reform.
"If we don't get it in the budget bill, I think we will take it up as a separate bill," Schuring said.