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Athens Leads Region In Push For Tax Uniformity
By: Jenn Halliday
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The city of Athens is leading southeast Ohio in pushing tax uniformity legislation to state representatives. At Monday night’s city council meeting, council members unanimously passed a resolution requesting that changes be implemented in state law to enact uniform tax provisions.
The state of Ohio is moving toward municipal tax uniformity statewide. However, provisions such as the 12-Day Rule and Net Operating Loss could have a negative impact on the city’s revenues.
"There’s going to be some changes that, if they reinstate a NOL [Net Operating Loss], it’s going to be revenue negative for the city of Athens," says Athens Income Tax Administrator Tina Timberman.
A decline in the city’s revenue could mean less money in the pockets of residents and local businesses. A coalition of government officials meets regularly to make sure every city’s needs are met.
"They hold meetings, hearings almost every week," says Timberman. "We want to have our voice heard; we want them to understand how this is going to impact us."
After Monday night’s city council meeting, Athens joins nine other Ohio cities that have passed resolutions supporting tax uniformity and preventing negative effects to city revenue. Timberman says that the city supports state tax uniformity but wants to make sure there are no negative consequences.
"We do agree with it, we are behind it, we just want to do it in the best way possible for all parties involved."
Timberman has been working on these provisions for over a year. The process for creating legislation is slow-moving, and Timberman says that members of the Ohio House will be lucky to have legislation on this issue drawn up by the end of the year.
She says no other cities in southeast Ohio have passed tax uniformity resolutions. If other cities are looking to get on board, Timberman says Athens will lead the way.
"We need a lot of cities to back this," says Timberman. "Athens wants to be the leader in southeast Ohio to try and pull cities in."
More information on municipal tax uniformity in the state of Ohio can be found at ohioscpa.com.