As if the citizens of Ohio were not already paying enough taxes, the increased state gas tax went into effect this month. Gas prices immediately rose 2 cents per gallon. By year three, the tax will have increased an additional 4 cents. The state continues to increase both revenue and spending with no end in sight.
Average Ohioans already know that they have the third-highest tax burden in the country. According to the Tax Foundation, Ohio's tax burden is 13 percent higher than the national average. Even more disturbing, the Cato Institute reports that state government spending in Ohio is growing at the second-fastest rate in the nation. In 1994, Ohio's budget was $14.4 billion. Over the past 10 years it has increased 71 percent to $24.8 billion.
Ohio taxpayers must take steps to harness the state's taxing and spending. The only way to guarantee that the Ohio Legislature practices fiscal restraint is to pass a Tax and Expenditure Limitation amendment to the state constitution. An effective TEL amendment limits the amount the state can increase spending to the inflation rate plus population growth.
Colorado offers a good example of the success to which a TEL amendment can lead. Previous to Colorado's passage of a TEL amendment, Colorado had a tax burden not unlike the one found in Ohio today. Following its passage, the turnaround began immediately. After years of seeing its tax burden increase, Colorado's tax burden began to decrease the very same year that the TEL went into affect. Within five years Colorado's tax burden decreased nearly 15 percent. Today, Colorado's burden is 9 percent below the national average.
Limiting state spending growth is not the only positive result of a TEL. Such amendments also promote statewide economic growth. Colorado's gross state product has increased more than sevenfold since the inception of the TEL amendment, compared with half that rate in Ohio.
Our legislators have proven irresponsible stewards of the people's money. Ohio needs a TEL amendment to save itself from its lawmakers.
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Mike Schrimpf of Western Hills is a student at Tufts University, majoring in political science with a minor in economics. He founded OhioTel (www.ohiotel.org) , a nonprofit group whose aim is to add a TEL amendment to the Ohio Constitution.
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