Ohio lawmakers missed a hard deadline Thursday to produce a plan to increase the state’s tax on oil and gas. There’s still no report, and top legislative leaders aren’t worried about it.
In June, House and Senate leaders scrapped the governor’s budget proposal to raise the severance tax. Instead they appointed a committee to create a plan by the start of October.
But the deadline passed with no report. And Republican Senate President Keith Faber said what will eventually come out is not a legislative proposal but more of a report on market conditions.
Faber added that there’s no economic reason to rush this issue.
“Anything we would do on the severance tax isn’t going to impact the fiscal picture of Ohio the rest of this biennium, it just isn’t, there isn’t enough money to be gained from any severance tax plan,” said Faber
Supporters of a severance tax hike, such as the liberal-leaning think tank Policy Matters Ohio, said they were disappointed with the lack of movement.
