New year in Ohio brings abundance of new tax laws

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

The new year brings lower tax bills for small businesses and other filers, a later primary election and potential fines for people who dig as part of development work without first checking the location of underground utilities.

This year also brings a new day to honor a country music trio, months and weeks to draw attention to rare diseases and the end of criminal conviction questions on written applications for public agency jobs.

Here’s a quick rundown of 15 new laws that are set to take effect in 2016:

1. Charter schools: Bipartisan passage of legislation requiring increased disclosure of charter contracts, facility costs, attendance policies and other details of their operation. Failing charters also will be blocked from entering contracts with new sponsors without state approval.

Additionally, the state education department will have to annually rate charter sponsors on academic performance and other compliance issues and publish lists of charters that have closed.

1. Asthma: Do your children or other youngsters you know suffer from asthma? HB 39, which takes effect Feb. 1, will allow schools and camps to keep supplies of asthma inhalers on hand for use in emergency situations.

2. Breast cancer: HB 93, which takes effect late this month, will allow motorcycle owners to purchase Breast Cancer Awareness license plates, which had been allowed for other motor vehicles. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the plates goes to programs that assist cancer patients.

3. Rett syndrome: October 2016 will mark Ohio’s first Rett Syndrome Awareness Month, drawing attention to “a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that affects girls almost exclusively,” according to the state’s Legislative Service Commission. “It is characterized by normal early growth and development followed by a slowing of development, loss of purposeful use of the hands, distinctive hand movements, slowed brain and head growth, problems with walking, seizures and intellectual disability.”

4. Taxes: The budget included a phase-out of taxes on small business income up to $250,000, with a 75 percent deduction allowed in the first year and 100 percent deduction in the second year.

The legislation also implements a 6.3 percent cut in tax rates for all brackets, a change that will mean more than $600 million in annual tax savings.

1. More tax changes: SB 208, which moved in November, still includes the 75 percent exemption on the first $250,000 of small business income for the current tax year but clarifies that the other 25 percent would be taxed using the current graduated tax rates, with a 3 percent cap.

2. Even more tax changes: And expect more tax reform in 2016 and beyond, as a new Ohio 2020 Tax Policy Study Commission considers a longer-term view of tax law changes, including the possibility of implementing a flat tax rate.

3. Tax quizzes: When you go to file your state tax returns online, you may still have to verify your identity, via quiz questions from the Ohio Department of Taxation. Lawmakers wanted to limit how those questions were asked, including language in the biennial budget to that effect, but Gov. John Kasich vetoed the wording.

1. School funding: HB 340 includes additional spending authority of $5.9 million in the current fiscal year and $44 million in the next to cover the tangible personal property tax reimbursement supplement that was enacted in October.

Kasich deleted the TPP supplement for certain districts as part of the state budget, saying it should be phased out, allowing the state’s school funding formula to work as intended.

The veto meant a loss of about $84 million in funding for affected districts. Lawmakers didn’t fully restore TPP funds for affected districts. Some will receive more money, while others will see no change.

1. Other budget fixes: One amendment earmarked $220,000 for Wright State University for security upgrades for a presidential debate scheduled on the campus set for Sept. 26.

Another amendment requires all 4-H volunteers to be fingerprinted as part of criminal background checks.

1. Later primary: Presidential primaries have been held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March. The new law pushed the date back to the second Tuesday after the first Monday of that month. The change will be in place for this year’s primary, as well as subsequent presidential primaries.

2. Music honors: An amendment designated Feb. 2 as Rascal Flatts Day, commemorating the day Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney released their first hit song. The legislation that included the provision didn’t take effect until late March, so 2016 will bring Ohio’s first official Rascal Flatts Day.

3. Going underground: The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is warning commercial excavators, utility operators, designers and developers to check for underground utilities before they dig.

A new underground protection law starts Jan. 1 that will allow violations of up to $2,500 in fines for a failure to do so. More information is available online at www.puco.ohio.gov.

1. Another designation: HB 62 designates the first week of September as Krabbe Disease Awareness Week, drawing attention to the “life-threatening, inherited disorder that destroys the protective coating of nerve cells in the brain and nervous system, typically resulting in complications that include seizures, muscle spasms, muscle deterioration, blindness, deafness, and respiratory failure.

2. Ban the Box: Public agencies will not longer be allowed to ask job-seekers about past felony convictions as part of written employment applications.

The prohibition covers state and local agencies, though some cities and counties could be exempt under home rule authority permitted in the state constitution.

The bill does not block public employers from checking the criminal records of applicants, if allowed by law. Those employers also could include information on applications noting that certain criminal convictions would preclude the hiring of applicants.