The new state budget is just a month old, but several Ohio communities are said to be considering challenging it in court over concerns about a tax filing change that is voluntary, but some say is still unconstitutional.
The new budget allows businesses, which traditionally have filed net profits taxes in all the municipalities in which they operate, to file just once through the state’s Ohio Business Gateway, with a half-percent fee attached.
Kent Scarrett with the Ohio Municipal League says even though it’s not required, several communities have questions about whether this amounts to the state administering municipal taxes.
“There’s been conversations if some of our members are going to challenge the state’s ability to do that through a lawsuit," Scarrett says.
Scarrett says the Ohio Municipal League can’t sue, but individual cities or villages could.
The state said businesses and municipalities would save money if the process were centralized, but communities said they were concerned about the cost and constitutionality of a mandate from the state.
