8615-12 Opposition to Ohio House Bill 601

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RESOLUTION NO. 8615-12 By. Anderson, Bullock, Juris, Madigan, Nowlin, Powers, Smith. A RESOLUTION opposing the State of Ohio's attempt to impose aone-size-fits-all tax code on Ohio Cities as proposed in House Bill 601, which would render powerless the City of Lakewood's right to govern its own finances. WHEREAS, House Bill 601 is being marketed as a tax uniformity bill, but is in reality a Trojan Horse piece of legislation, sneaking 129 pages of revisions into tax laFV so that State politicians can plunder Lakewood revenues and withhold Lakewood's cash flow for their own purposes, and WHEREAS, Lakewood City Council and the Mayor last year warned residents that State operatives were laying the groundwork for Governor Kasich to roll over local laws by imposing aState-wafted tax collection scheme, and WHEREAS, only municipalities can ensure the prompt and proper auditing of local tax returns to ensure all applicable deductions and declarations are reported, thus also ensuring that all taxpayers pay their fair share without causing higher costs of compliance for all, and must be able to do so without burdensome and costly restrictions included in House Bill 601 created with the only purpose of restricting municipalities from correcting and auditing returns or making assessments; and WHEREAS, only municipalities can and will aggressively pursue those non- compliant and delinquent taxpayers who, by their omission or deliberate deceit, drive up the costs of compliance to all; and WHEREAS, it is now time to re-double our efforts to stop the State's power-grab made evident in HB 601 before it is fast-tracked to adoption by year's end, and WHEREAS, State politicians have systematically placed ever-increasing tax burdens on cities with the massive depletion of the local government fund, the abolishment of the estate tax, and the expedited phase-out of tangible personal property tax reimbursements, yet still seeks to siphon even more vital dollars from our City through a bill that increases our City's burdens while lessening the State's own; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF LAKEWOOD, STATE OF OHIO: Section 1. That this City Council and Mayor join with countless cities around the state in urgency and confidence to drive back efforts being made by politicians as far aFVay as Franklin and Montgomery counties to invade our Home Rule. Section 2. That this Council and Mayor further resolve to assert the City's rightful, responsible authority over the care and custody of its own revenues, and Section 3. That the Clerk of Council shall send a copy of this Resolution to Governor John Kasich, Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor, the Clerks of both the Ohio House and Senate, Ohio Tax Commissioner Joe Testa, the Councils and Mayors of neighboring cities and villages to formally declare strong opposition to HB 601.