staying tuned...
An update on the Ohio State FY '16-'17, in regards to public libraries, according to OLC's Access Weekly:
"Analysis Underway on Proposed FY16-17 State Budget and Potential Impact on PLF
"Analysis Underway on Proposed FY16-17 State Budget and Potential Impact on PLF
The
OLC staff and consultants have begun the tedious process of analyzing
the 719-pages of Gov. Kasich's proposed $72.3 billion state budget for
fiscal years (FY) 2016-17, and the potential impact the proposals may
have on the Public Library Fund (PLF). The budget proposal includes a
combination of tax cuts and tax increases. Overall, the administration
claims it amounts to $500 million net tax cut, even though it includes
increases in sales, commercial activity, tobacco, and severance taxes.
Some of the high points of the proposal include:
- Cuts the income tax by 23% across-the-board (15% income tax cut this year and 8% cut next year);
- Raises the Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) on gross receipts from .26% to .32%;
- Increases the Cigarette Tax from $1.25 to $2.25 per pack;
- Proposes a 6.5% Severance Tax on high volume oil and gas horizontal wells;
- Increases the state sales tax from 5.75% to 6.25%;
- And expands the sales tax base to include the following services: cable TV, parking, lobbying, public relations, consulting, and travel packages.
A summary of the Governor's tax proposal as well as the entire state budget document are available online.
Public Library Fund
According to Office of Budget and Management (OBM) budget
documents, the Governor's proposed budget does not change the Public
Library Fund (PLF) percentage from 1.66% of the total General Revenue
Fund (GRF) tax receipts. However, due to the various tax reform
proposals and state revenue estimates, if the Governor's budget is
enacted as proposed, the distribution to the PLF would increase by 5.7%
in FY16 and 3.9% in FY17. (See
chart for details and comparison to past and current distributions.)
A few points to keep in mind:- Even though public libraries budget on a calendar year basis, the General Assembly and the state operate on a fiscal year basis. Therefore, budget documents are produced for the legislature based on fiscal years and not calendar years.
- This is the very beginning of the budget deliberation process. The final FY16-17 budget will not be enacted until the end of June and numerous changes will be made between now and then.
- Various organizations have already raised concerns with the Governor's tax proposal on severance tax increases, the CAT tax increases, and cigarette tax changes.
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