In a creative form of protest against a proposed one-cent rollback of the state’s sales tax, demonstrators brought a half-full glass gallon jar of pennies to the basement office of Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a sponsor of the tax repeal.
Ohio’s sales tax is 6 percent, and the proposed repeal would drop the tax to 5 percent – a change that a spokeswoman for the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign said would cost the state about $800 million, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The spokeswoman also said this would force the state to make cuts in health care, education and libraries.
The one-cent increase in the tax was put into effect in July and was established a temporary measure to boost the state’s income. Citizens for Tax Repeal,however, wants the tax’s expiration date to be moved ahead from June 30, 2005, to Dec. 1 or sooner, according to the Dispatch. Blackwell said the repeal is to make sure the temporary tax does not become permanent.
Gov. Bob Taft said the increased tax brings in an additional $1.3 billion a year, and its repeal would disrupt the “delicately balanced budget” approved by the legislature, according to the Dispatch.
The most pertinent information to Ohio State students is that repeal of the tax could mean more cuts in education – anyone who can’t get into a class because there aren’t enough professors to teach the class can tell you that. The penny-per-dollar increase, though generating the reported $1.3 billion per year for the state, shows up only in a small way on most everyday purchases. A grocery purchase of $100 now totals to $106, not $105, for instance – not really that big a deal, considering that dollar could be made up in a couple of clipped coupons or by obtaining a supermarket’s value card.
Getting rid of that excess tax,however, could mean getting shut out of more classes, having your major narrowed, having even less money for a new student union and more dependency on corporate sponsorship.
This situation seems to have one logical answer – an extra cent here or there that barely adds up per person but keeps Ohio barely afloat, or saving a couple pennies every time you shop at the City Center and waving a sad farewell to more social programs and educational funding. We hope Ohio chooses to foot the extra cent.
