A conservative think tank has filed a lawsuit against the City of Columbus and the state of Ohio, claiming that its employees who live outside of Columbus shouldn’t have paid city income taxes while working during the state’s stay at home order. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
Buckeye Institute president Robert Alt says the lawsuit was filed on behalf of three employees who don’t live in Columbus and weren’t allowed to work in Columbus during the stay at home order, but were being taxed by Columbus.
“It’s not just unfair to the employees – it’s unfair to the other municipalities that are performing those services that are being deprived of tax revenue that they would otherwise be entitled to.”
Alt says thousands of Ohio workers are in this situation, with potentially millions at stake. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein wrote in a statement that cities are losing massive amounts of tax revenue during this pandemic while trying to protect and help their communities, and this is not the time to have what he called “a philosophical battle about taxes."
