It is finally time to hold the Cincinnati Regional Chamber, the Cincinnati Business Committee and their member corporations accountable for the tax environment that has failed to fund public education while raising the tax burden of everyday Ohioans.
In 2005, the Chamber and CBC advocated heavily for the elimination of the Tangible Property Tax. Once they succeeded, the burden of school funding that was once shared by corporations and residents was now shifted towards the residential property taxes of regular Ohioans.
Ohio's corporate tax cuts changed the school funding equation
At the time, the Chamber and CBC defended the elimination of the TPT by claiming the 2005 Commercial Activity Tax on businesses making more than
$150,000 would help offset funding shortages for schools and local governments. Since then, the Chamber and CBC have both supported changes to the Commercial Activity Tax, which in 2024 exempted businesses making less than $3 million from paying the tax, and in 2025 exempted businesses making less than $6 million from paying the tax.
As costs for schools have increased with inflation, these tax cuts to corporations have left districts with holes in their budgets that have to be filled by local residential property owners like you and me by means of tax levies.
In 2011, the Chamber strongly supported the elimination of the Ohio Estate Tax. This cut again shifted the tax burden away from the wealthy and again forced school districts to make up the budget difference by coming to working people for property tax levies.
Public schools face rising costs and uncertain state funding
Things finally looked promising in 2021 when Ohio passed the Fair School Funding Plan. Unfortunately, the rug was again pulled out from public schools when the plan was scrapped in 2025 and fully eliminated for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, causing districts across the state to scramble for money and again shifting the burden to local property tax levies. Meanwhile, the Chamber and CBC sat silent and have taken no official stance on this action.
Now in 2026, Cincinnati Public Schools and schools across Ohio exist in an environment where their revenue has been slashed over 20 years while costs have skyrocketed. Without the Tangible Property Tax on corporations, Estate Tax on the wealthy, or the Fair Funding Plan, their only option is to go back to the regular taxpayers who are left holding the bag time and time again. Meanwhile, the corporations that make up the Chamber and CBC are experiencing record profits and a lower tax burden.
The Cincinnati Regional Chamber and Cincinnati Business Committee should be thanking public schools for managing to survive continuous funding cuts and regular Ohioans for paying more in taxes while they pay less. Instead, they spit in our faces by loudly opposing the only funding option CPS has left while supporting cuts to school revenue and sitting quietly as the Fair Funding Plan is scrapped.
It’s time we expect more out of Cincinnati’s business community.
James Wolf has worked in public and private schools for 25 years, served in elected office for 18 years, and ran Mt. Healthy’s successful school levy this past May.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati's business leaders can't have it both ways on school funding | Opinion
