A plan to repeal Ohio's estate tax is moving ahead in the legislature. The Senate Ways and Means Committee has recommended that the full Senate okay the measure. The tax currently raises about 300 million dollars a year for cities and the state government, but critics of the tax say it encourages too many Ohioans to retire to other states so they can avoid it. Jack Boyle heads a citizen group that supports killing the tax. He notes most states don't have an estate tax.
"There's plenty of places to move where you don't have to pay this tax and we think that getting rid of this tax will be a direct contributor to helping Ohio's economy begin to recover again," Boyle says.
Critics of this bill say repealing the estate tax would help mostly the rich, at the same time it would hurt financially pinched cities and the state government. Backers of repeal, though, stress they've added an amendment. It delays the tax wipe-out for two years so the lost revenue would not impact the next two-year state budget and so cities would have more time to adjust.