We are still settling into the new reality of the 2024 presidential campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris continues to ramp up the Democratic campaign with her at the top of the ticket. Former President Donald Trump has turned his attention away from President Joe Biden and toward Harris.
Both candidates launched massive ad campaigns this week. Trump used his ads to remind voters of Harris’ record and previous statements. Meanwhile, the vice president used her ads to reintroduce herself to the American public.
To get a handle on how this is playing out in Ohio, we talked to four veteran political observers: progressive activist Morgan Harper, Republican strategist Terry Casey, Ohio Public Radio reporter Jo Ingles and Cleveland.com reporter Andrew Tobias.
We discussed the switch from Biden to Harris and JD Vance’s vice presidential campaign.
Snollygoster of the Week
This week it goes to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the state legislature for expanding the sales tax holiday from three days to 10 days and for expanding what is eligible to be purchased tax-free.
The sale tax holiday began Thursday at midnight and runs through 11:59 p.m. on August 8.
It used to be just for school supplies and nothing costing more than $75. Now anything that's not bad for you is eligible, and you can buy something that costs up to $500 sales tax-free except for items like cigarettes and beer.
The liberal policy group Policy Matters Ohio is not a fan of the holiday. They say the state will lose hundreds of millions of dollars. Consumers will save a little, but retailers are the big winners.
Policy Matters Ohio points to studies that show consumers would have bought the items anyway. They just decided to buy the items during the tax holiday. They support overall reductions on sales taxes, which are more regressive than graduated income taxes.
If you do the math, if you buy a $500 grill, you’d save $35. It’s not nothing, but it’s kind of close.
Anyway, it’s a shrewd way for politicians to say they are cutting taxes, and a shrewd way for retailers to get people in the door. For that, sales tax holiday proponents get our Snollygoster of the Week award.
