Ban on Wright-Patt Tax a Part of State Budget

From the Springfield News Sun:

A provision that would effectively ban the city of Riverside from imposing its 1.5 percent municipal income tax on civilian employees at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base who are not Riverside residents is now part of the proposed state budget.

State Rep. Kevin DeWine, R-Fairborn, sponsor of the provision, said the ban was added Monday to the budget being put together by House-Senate negotiators. A final vote on the two-year spending plan could come as early as Wednesday. Gov. Ted Strickland must sign the budget before Sunday, the start of the state's new fiscal year.

Ohio law does not allow municipalities to tax active-duty military personnel.

Riverside Mayor Ken Curp said he would not comment on the legislative action until he sees the written language of the provision. Riverside will continue to collect the income tax as it has been doing unless its lawyer advises otherwise, Curp said.

Riverside, a Montgomery County community located adjacent to the base, maintains that part of Area B at Wright-Patterson is within the city's taxing jurisdiction and sent letters to contractors this spring asking them to begin withholding the tax from civilian employees.

If an employee at the base is a resident of a city that has a municipal income tax – such as Riverside or Dayton – the employee still would be subject to that city's tax, DeWine said. The prohibition would begin Aug. 1.

DeWine and officials of the Dayton Development Coalition have expressed concern that piecemeal local taxes at Wright-Patterson could make it harder to attract government contractors from other U.S. bases, which are losing jobs to Wright-Patterson through the Base Realignment and Closure process.

"I want to make sure Wright-Patterson is viewed favorably by decision-makers," DeWine said.

I'd like to sign up for getting out of municipal taxes myself... Civilians aren't active military, so I'm not real sure why we're exempting civilians from paying a tax that everyone else has to pay... Maybe I'm missing something...