Ramaswamy expands his plan to eliminate Ohio’s income tax, as Ohio Chamber of Commerce endorses him

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy announced on Tuesday that he intends to abolish the Buckeye State’s income tax, the same day the Ohio Chamber of Commerce endorsed him.

Ramaswamy and his running mate, Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, presented themselves as politicians who will attract companies and, therefore, high-paying jobs to the state by eliminating Ohio’s income tax through a budgetary “stair-step down” approach as soon as people elect him and he steps into Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s office, according to Gongwer.

“That will be the first step of a longer-run path, at least over the next 10 years or less,” he said, the news source reported. “In the year 2027, we will start with the first step of that march to zero income taxation with elimination of taxation on capital gains that goes into effect next year.”

Ramaswamy added that turning Ohio into a “zero income tax state” will result in an “economic boom and an industrial boom that this state has not seen since the first industrial revolution.”

“We won’t get there overnight,” he said. “But we will articulate and lay out a plan over the next 10 years or less to be able to get to that zero income tax rate.”

Amy Acton, Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent in the race, hasn’t revealed her stance regarding whether Ohio should abolish its income tax

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce PAC endorsed Ramaswamy and McColley at Kimball Midwest, a distributor of maintenance, repair and operations products, per Gongwer.

“We need to make sure that the community has the resources that we need to be able to continue our growth. And I think we have a good team,” Kimball Midwest CEO Pat McCurdy said, according to the news source.

Chamber President and CEO Steve Stivers said that Ramaswamy is the best person to continue improving the state, adding that “that’s not a finish line,” but “a starting point,” NBC 4 reported.

“There are businesses looking to decide where to place high-wage jobs right now. That is the lens through which we look to make every decision, including who’s the best governor for Ohio,” he said, adding that one of the reasons why the Chamber decided to endorse Ramaswamy was because of his recent proposal to abolish the income tax that will “further attract more businesses to our state.”

NBC 4 reported that the Legislative Service Commission believes eliminating the income tax will result in the state losing more than $600 million in tax revenue in the first year.

Acton campaign spokesperson Addie Bullock responded to the Tuesday endorsement by saying that Acton is “a lifelong public servant and problem solver who has spent her career finding common sense solutions to improve the lives of Ohioans.”

“As governor, she will be laser-focused on lowering costs for working families, standing up for Ohio workers, and supporting Ohio businesses,” Bullock said, according to NBC 4.