Earned Income Tax

Why are we putting on the earned income tax for the third time?  

When we sat down and looked at the options, here was my thought process.

Property Tax-15% of our property taxes are delinquent which is almost the entire amount of the earned income tax levy. To put on a comparable property tax, we would need to ask for 5 mills, but really we would need to ask for 7 mills to account for people not paying their property taxes and
foreclosures. The polling numbers for the 2007 and 2008 levies that were similar to these numbers, in my opinion, sent a clear message that this wasn’t the route for us to go.

Traditional Income Tax-The Ohio Department of Taxation estimated that a 1.25% traditional income tax would generate $1,098,947 and a 1.25% earned income tax would generate $953,720. What does these numbers say about our community? These are my thoughts and my thoughts only. I think that
 most people in this community are working, retiring late in life, or are drawing social security, which isn’t taxed under either income tax option. At other districts the traditional income tax would generate double the earned income tax and here it generates 15% more.  It may not be fair that our generation shoulders the bulk of the burden for educating kids, but upon looking at the list of registered voters that actually turned out to vote in this community in the May 2011 election, it isn’t our generation that is impacting the outcome of these votes. The Board of Education has to put on a levy that is winnable, and I believe that this is our best option to win, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s fair or equitable.

Dr. Jamie Grime

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To Mr. Homer Hendricks, Treasurer MEVS

The Ohio Department of Taxation estimates that for calendar year 2012 Montpelier EVSD (Williams County) will generate more revenue under an earned income tax base than the traditional (all income) tax base for rates from 0.25% to 2.0%.

Regards,

Rose M Hallam Vidmar, Researcher
Ohio Department of Taxation, Tax Analysis Division
30 E Broad St, 22nd Floor, Columbus 43215
614/466-0091 (office)
614/752-0700 (fax)
http://tax.ohio.gov/channels/other/research.stm