By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall, A Populist
We recorded Vivek Ramaswamy’s event in downtown Cleveland for Ohio Political News. Here is the complete recording:
We edited the video to pull out his position on income taxes. He makes it very clear that he totally supports abolishing Ohio income taxes.
You might wonder who has benefited from the reduction in the income tax to a flat tax of 2.75%. We found a couple of sources that explained who benefited.
“For a more comprehensive understanding of Ohio’s revenue situation, we need to look back two decades. Beginning in 2005, Ohio lawmakers embarked on an income tax cutting crusade. For a generation, lawmakers have used tax policy to create loopholes and handouts for the most wealthy and influential. As a result, we have lost out on decades’ worth of potential in our state, sacrificing our well-being and economic security to help the rich get richer.”
“As recently as 2004, the wealthiest Ohioans paid a tax rate of 7.5% on income over $200,000. Today they pay a top rate of 3.5% on income over $100,000. These income tax cuts have made our tax code much less equitable and blown a massive hole in our state budget.”
“Figure 2 shows the impact of tax changes in Ohio since 2005. These changes have raised taxes on the lowest-income Ohioans while giving the wealthiest households tax cuts valued in the tens of thousands. In 2024, the lowest-income Ohioans, making an average of $14,000 a year, paid on average $80 more in taxes than they did in 2005. Meanwhile, Ohioans in the highest-income 1%, those with an average income of $1.55 million have
seen an annual tax cut of $52,459.2 These policy changes have created an annual revenue shortfall of nearly $13 billion and a tax system where the highest-income 1% pay a smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than the lowest-paid 20% do.3 It is time that wealthy Ohioans pay their fair share.”
In the Sunday (March 15, 2026) Plain Dealer. we found an interesting article about Ohio’s Tax Policy and Who It Benefits:
“”A February 2026 report from Ohio Policy Matters Ohio found that the cumulative effect of tax changes since 2005 has reduced state revenue by roughly $17 billion per year – more than Ohio’s entire K-12 education appropriation and five times what the state spends on higher education.”
“The benefits of those cuts have flowed almost entirely to the top. According to an analysis by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy cited by Policy Matters Ohio, the top 1% of Ohio earners – those making more than $753,000 – receive an average annual tax cut of almost $69,000. The middle 20% – those earning between roughly $50,200 and $84,500 – receive an average of about $800. The lowest -income households, those earning less than $26,000, pay an average of $32 more per year under the current system.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Ramaswamy does not appear to share our view that home ownership is the foundation of freedom and liberty. Ohio’s overly complex, ever-increasing property taxes are pricing people out of their homes and it is immoral.
We need new leadership in Ohio to ensure that private property ownership is a fundamental, basic right for everyone. Eliminating property taxes will be the catalyst that will reduce the size of the bloated government in the State of Ohio.
Categories: Community Activism, Free Speech Zone, State of Ohio