Poland man proposes sales tax holiday

By Marc Kovac

The proposal would decrease the state’s tax take.

COLUMBUS — Drive to the outlet mall in Grove City, Pa., on any given day, and you’ll probably find cars with Ohio license plates parked in the lot.

The reason, Bill Johnson believes, is obvious: Ohio’s neighbor to the east doesn’t charge sales tax on clothing. So when back-to-school shoppers and others from Mahoning, Columbiana and surrounding counties want to stretch their dollars, they make the trek to Pennsylvania.

Johnson wants to change that, via a sales tax reform package that he’d like lawmakers to pass — maybe even include in the biennial budget currently being debated in the Ohio House.

The Poland man doesn’t have all the answers, yet. But he’s established a group, the Ohio Sales Tax Reform Incentive, and plans to launch a Web site to assemble other citizens’ ideas for making the state’s sales tax structure more attractive to shoppers.

“I really believe that the timing is perfect,” he said. “We need to put money back in taxpayers’ pockets, and this is a way that we can do that, very easily. ... In these days and times, any money that we can put back in people’s pockets is going to stimulate the economy.”

While still working out the details, Johnson’s proposal would include some type of sales tax holiday — providing a few days in August for consumers to purchase clothing, school supplies and other items without paying sales taxes.

About 20 other states have already instituted comparable sales tax holidays, and state lawmakers have introduced legislation in past sessions proposing to do the same thing in Ohio. Rep. Stephen Dyer, a Democrat from Akron, was primary sponsor of one of those bills last session.

The primary opposition focused on loss revenues: The tax holidays would reduce state tax collections.

Johnson said he believes tax revenues would actually increase with sales tax holidays. By saving money on school supplies, for example, shoppers would have more to spend on other items that would still be subject to sales tax.

“It’s not the state’s money,” he said. “It’s the taxpayers’ money. When we put the money back into the pockets of the people, that’s the backbone of the Ohio economy and the American economy. When they start spending, then businesses flourish, income tax revenues increase, then the coffers begin to fill up.”

Dyer said he hasn’t ruled out reintroducing his bill this session.

“I’m looking at it, but, obviously, the economic conditions are a cause for concern,” he said.