COST Issues 2014 Report on State and Local Tax Burden

The Council on State Taxation (COST) has issued its 2014 study on the state and local business tax burden by state. The report, "Total State and Local Business Taxes: State-by-State Estimates for Fiscal Year 2013," prepared by Ernst & Young LLP, focuses on fiscal year 2013. According to the study, the overall tax burden on businesses increased for the third consecutive year. The study includes information from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The taxes studied include business property taxes; sales and excise taxes paid by businesses on their input purchases and capital expenditures; gross receipts taxes; corporate income and franchise taxes; business and corporate license taxes; unemployment insurance taxes; individual income taxes paid by owners of non-corporate (pass-through) businesses; and other state and local taxes that are the statutory liability of business taxpayers. A copy of the study may be viewed here.

According to the study, the state and local business tax burden rose an average of 4.3 percent nationally in 2013. Ohio’s tax burden increase was below average at 3.7 percent, placing it 28th among states in terms of the increase. The single tax that businesses paid the most in Ohio was the property tax, followed by the state sales tax. Overall, businesses in Ohio paid approximately $20.4 billion in state and local taxes, which amounts to 4.1 percent of the Gross State Product, below the national average of 4.7 percent.