Are Additional City Taxes a Typical Thing in Ohio? (Columbus: real estate, 2015)

[WriterDude]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note. I saw this on the Westerville website: http://www.westerville.org/home/showdocument?id=920.

On top of Ohio state taxes and Federal taxes, the city of Westerville takes 2% of earned income. I've already found a lot of variation in property tax rates, but do all Ohio municipal areas require residents to pay an income tax?

[db108108]

Originally Posted by WriterDude

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note. I saw this on the Westerville website: http://www.westerville.org/home/showdocument?id=920.

On top of Ohio state taxes and Federal taxes, the city of Westerville takes 2% of earned income. I've already found a lot of variation in property tax rates, but do all Ohio municipal areas require residents to pay an income tax?

Yes.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by WriterDude

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note. I saw this on the Westerville website: http://www.westerville.org/home/showdocument?id=920.

On top of Ohio state taxes and Federal taxes, the city of Westerville takes 2% of earned income. I've already found a lot of variation in property tax rates, but do all Ohio municipal areas require residents to pay an income tax?

Actually, most have a residential credit.

E.g., persons who work in the city pay 2 percent.

Residents who work in another city get a credit of zero to 100 percent of the municipal taxes paid in the other city. If the residential city has a zero credit, very rare, you could pay 4 percent.

Townships do not have income taxes on earned income.

[ohioaninsc]

Most municipal tax rates have gone up over the past couple years to make up for the funding shortfall created by our idiot governor and legislature when they severely cut funding to the cities...so it was either layoff hundreds of public safety personal and cut back on needed city services, or get municipal tax rates increased to make up for it.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by ohioaninsc

Most municipal tax rates have gone up over the past couple years to make up for the funding shortfall created by our idiot governor and legislature when they severely cut funding to the cities...so it was either layoff hundreds of public safety personal and cut back on needed city services, or get municipal tax rates increased to make up for it.

Although municipal income tax rates have been raised in some cases to make up for massive Republican cuts to the local government fund, more frequently municipal real estate levies have been increased.

Obviously, poorer communities, such as East Cleveland, with relatively low and fragile tax bases, have been helpless.

Things are so desperate in East Cleveland, that neighboring communities have been donating used equipment, such as old ambulances, to the community in an attempt to keep the city from imploding.

Cleveland is considering annexing East Cleveland, perhaps not a bad idea given the likelihood that University Circle would explode into East Cleveland if part of Cleveland. The short-term budget hit could be severe, however, and Cleveland currently is considering raising its municipal income tax rate 25 percent to 2.5 percent.

While the State of Ohio has a municipal income tax rate finder, it's interesting that no one apparently maintains an online table of municipal income tax rates for all of Ohio.

[Fletchman]

The village where I live has no credit, so I pay 3.5%.

On top of that, the school district where I live has a .75% income tax.

Ouch.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Fletchman

The village where I live has no credit, so I pay 3.5%.

On top of that, the school district where I live has a .75% income tax.

Ouch.

Wow! Where is this? Do you know your real estate millage (perhaps it's lower given the school district income tax; those often are used to tax a business in a location to save residents from a higher real estate tax)?

[wrightflyer]

Yes. For the most part. There are only a handful of localities that don't levy a local earned-income tax. I used to live in one of the bigger ones (Beavercreek, a large Dayton suburb, with 45,000 residents). Another Greene County Dayton suburb with no income tax at the local level is Bellbrook. Otherwise, pretty much every city I've seen has a local earned-income tax.

That being said, many do offer residential credits. Some, however, do not. In my case, Gahanna credits a weird 83.333333....% of what you pay to another city. But since I work from home, that number doesn't really matter to me. And yes, some school districts have a district-wide earned-income tax specifically for their school's funding. That tax, however, is less common.

I too would love to see a statewide list of all muncipalities that levy a local earned-income tax. A bonus would be school districts that do the same. I know that not all municipalities manage their collection locally. Many Cleveland and Columbus suburbs use RITA to manage filings and collections. That may be why the process of a database can be difficult to track?

[Fletchman]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Wow! Where is this? Do you know your real estate millage (perhaps it's lower given the school district income tax; those often are used to tax a business in a location to save residents from a higher real estate tax)?

This is in Plain City, Madison County. According to the school district, "The district is at what is known as the “20 mill floor”. By law, the county auditor must collect a minimum of 20 mills for the local school district. This represents approximately 33% of district revenues, and should grow with new construction in the district or property value increase."

I do not own, so I'm not sure if this is high or low.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Fletchman

This is in Plain City, Madison County. According to the school district, "The district is at what is known as the “20 mill floor”. By law, the county auditor must collect a minimum of 20 mills for the local school district. This represents approximately 33% of district revenues, and should grow with new construction in the district or property value increase."

I do not own, so I'm not sure if this is high or low.

Plain City has a relatively low effective real estate tax rate of 57.38 mills. Schools get only 36.60 mills, and I believe 28.80 on an effective basis. These rates are much lower than in other places in Ohio, including in adjacent Franklin County.

http://madisonoh.ddti.net/Forms/Misc...tes%202015.pdf

Many taxing districts in Franklin County have effective overall real property rates of over 90 mills and some over 100 mill.

https://treasurer.franklincountyohio...axes/tax-rates

I found this article about the income tax rate in Plain City, but it implies the rate currently is only 1 percent. The tables in the following link also say Plain City only has a 1 percent municipal income tax rate and no school district tax. This doesn't jive with your information in post 6. Thinking about it, you must work in Columbus (paying 2.5 percent), and a resident income tax rate of 1 percent in Plain City. I don't know where the school income tax is coming from if you live in Plain City, unless part of Plain City is another school district that has a school income tax rate (if so, what school district, as I only see 3 school districts in Madison County with a school income tax?). If you're in a different school district than Plain City, the real estate tax rates might be much different.

Plain City to vote on village income-tax increase | The Columbus Dispatch

http://www.ahola.com/tax-forms-and-f...pal-taxes.aspx

Reading the immediately above link, it appears that the school district income tax, when assessed, only applies to residents. Does anybody know if this is accurate?