OAR opposes sales tax increase.

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Association of Realtors Legislative Steering and Executive committees have voted unanimously to oppose the expansion of the sales tax to services, including those involved in real-estate transactions.

The 26,000-member group now will lobby the Ohio General Assembly to strongly oppose the imposition of a statewide 5 percent sales tax on real-estate services proposed by Gov. John Kasich in his budget outline.

OAR says the tax will “unduly increase the cost of housing and business throughout the state.”

“The real-estate industry has played an integral role in the improvement within the Ohio economy since the onset of the economic challenges a few years ago,” read an official statement from OAR on the matter. “The expansion of the sales tax to every service associated with a real-estate transaction threatens a fragile, but critical, sector of the economy and will place an unnecessary financial burden on Ohio’s property owners.”