In response to a recent update I gave on the status of estate tax repeal in Ohio - Ohio Estate Tax Repeal is Dead in 2010 - I received an email from Ron Alban, one of the members of Citizens United to End Ohio's Estate Tax, a ballot issue political action committee (or PAC) that has been formed to work towards ending Ohio's estate tax effective December 31, 2012. In his email, Ron wrote:
"The schedule for the campaign [to end Ohio's estate tax] is as follows:
We are now gathering signatures for what is referred to as the General Assembly petition. Once this petition is certified by the Ohio Secretary of State, the proposed statutory amendments to Ohio law will be submitted to the Ohio General Assembly on 1/3/2011 for consideration. The General Assembly has 4 months to act. If the General Assembly does not pass the statutory amendments after this 4 months, we will circulate a Supplementary Petition. This is the petition that will put the issue on the November 2011 ballot for the people to decide.
Our plan was never to submit the General Assembly petition in December 2009. Our petition only received certification by the Ohio Attorney General and Ohio Ballot Board in late September 2009--and this simply did not allow enough time to come remotely close to gathering the number of signatures required for the General Assembly petition."
Of the 16 jurisdictions that currently collect an estate tax at the state level, Ohio by far has the lowest estate tax exemption - a mere $338,333 - compared with New Jersey which offers the second lowest exemption at $675,000. With such a low estate tax exemption, the website for Citizens United Against Ohio's Estate Tax, End Ohio's Estate Tax, points out that the Ohio estate tax hits the middle class, homeowners, and farmers; drives jobs and capital out of Ohio; drives retirees out of Ohio; and imposes a burden on families.
For more information on Citizens United to End Ohio's Estate Tax and to sign up to help gather petition signatures, please visit the End Ohio's Estate Tax website.