Vivek Ramaswamy wants to abolish income taxes, Gov. DeWine opposes

Presumptive Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy may want to abolish income taxes, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine won’t be among the Ohioans cheering on the idea.

Ramaswamy recently appeared on Fox Business and said he would favor abolishing income taxes because it would benefit Ohio.

“Well, what’s really important is not only does that provide relief to Ohioans—they get to keep more of what they earn,” he said.

We’re going to make Ohio a zero income tax state which is a double-win to address affordability challenges: (1) Ohioans keep more of what they earn, and (2) we attract more high-paying jobs to the state. pic.twitter.com/mv5U1pMFMO

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) January 27, 2026

Ramaswamy added that abolishing the income tax would attract more businesses to Ohio.

“There are other states that have done it. People who are looking to flee states like California,” he said, would be glad to move to a state where they could pay less taxes. “I want to make Ohio the capital of positive capitalism and the capital of innovators, actually moving here to create those high-paying jobs.”

Ramaswamy then said that the abolishment of the income tax is “the best defense against inflation for an individual” because it would “create conditions” for Ohioans to earn more money.

“Take-home pay means pay after taxes. Now, if you take the income tax down to zero, that means you keep more of what you earn, but also bring higher-paying jobs to the state. So it’s a core part of my campaign,” he said. “It’s core to leading this state.”

However, DeWine disagreed with Ramasswamy, saying that it would be pointless to eliminate income tax in Ohio because business officials allegedly never brought up Ohio’s income tax throughout the seven years when he was the governor.

“There’s not one of them, not one CEO who said, ‘Your income tax is too high. It’s a problem for us. It’s a problem for us. It’s a problem for my executives. It’s a problem for me.’ Not one time,” he said, according to The Vindicator.

DeWine then pointed out that abolishing the income tax would result in many other problems.

“If you can figure out how to pay for education, pay for fire, pay for police, pay for mental health, pay for the things that make us a strong, competitive state, show me,” he said. “You can talk about getting rid of the income tax, but the question is: how do you replace it? We are very competitive. No one’s saying we can’t come here because we can’t pay your tax.”

DeWine initially didn’t want to endorse Ramaswamy, but eventually did after Ramaswamy promised to rebrand himself as a more moderate candidate and chose Ohio Senate President Rob McColley as his lieutenant governor mate.

Ramaswamy, who will take on Amy Action, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health who left her post amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in November presumes he wins the Republican primary