Improving Ohio's tax system submitted to Commission to Study the Ohio Economy and Tax Structure.

• Position: Tax Executives Institute State and Local Tax Committee

On May 31, 1994, Tax Executives Institute submitted the following comments to the Commission to St Economy and Tax Structure, an ad hoc commission created by the Ohio legislature to study and make pr the Ohio economy and its tax system. The comments, which took the form of a letter from TEI Presiden Frank E. Mosier, the chair of the commission, were prepared under the aegis of TEI's State and Local chair is James J. Coppola, Jr. of the New Jersey Chapter. The Institute's submission was based on a force of members of the Cleveland Chapter whose chair was Gerald Steltenkamp of The Sherwin-Williams contributing to the development of the comments, which were approved by the Executive Committee, wer of Keithley Instruments, Inc., 1993-1994 President of the Cleveland Chapter, and Kenneth E. Case of President of the Cincinnati Chapter.

On behalf of Tax Executives Institute, Inc. (TEI), I am pleased to submit these comments to the Commission to Study the Ohio Economy and Tax Structure. TEI believes that the Commission's study is an important step in the development of comprehensive recommendations to the Ohio legislature for revision of the State's tax policy and administration.

Background

Tax Executives Institute is the principal association of business tax executives in North America. The Institute's approximately 5,000 members represent nearly 3,000 of the largest companies in the United States and Canada. As a professional association, TEI is firmly committed to maintaining a tax system that works--one that is administrable and with which taxpayers can comply.

TEI members are responsible for managing the tax affairs of their companies and must contend daily with the provisions of the tax law relating to the operation of business enterprises. TEI members are employed by companies with corporate headquarters within and without the State of Ohio and with interstate and wholly intrastate operations. And, while the views expressed here represent those of the Institute as a whole, the Institute's comments were developed with the assistance and advice of members from our Ohio-based Chapters in Cleveland and Cincinnati, which have an aggregate membership of approximately 250 persons. We believe that the diversity and training of our members enable us to bring an important, balanced, and practical perspective to the issues to be assessed by the Commission to Study the Ohio Economy and Tax Structure.

Guiding Principles

Given the diversity of its...