Ohio Marriage Penalty

It is a little known fact that Ohio's married taxpayers are frequently better off Filing Separate returns instead of Joint when both spouses are employed.

This is due to Ohio’s progressive income tax. The more you make, the greater percentage they take. The marriage penalty begins when Joint Taxable Income reaches $5,300!

Some simple examples of your Ohio IT 1040 are as follows (assumes equal income, no dependants, and no Schedule B – Line 7 credits):

Note: The Joint Filing Credit is factored into all calculations. 

An on-line calculator for entering Incomes, Schedule B – Line 7 credits, and Dependent exemptions is available at http://Home.Fuse.net/JBecker.
Note: Do not use www. as a prefix on the above URL.
Note: The calculator is designed to be used with Microsoft Excel. It may not work on computers without a spreadsheet program. The calculator can be downloaded as an Excel file by using File|Save As on your browser.

The only way to avoid the Ohio Marriage Penalty is to File Separately.

Ohio law requires that the Federal return’s Filing Status match Ohio’s.

Filing Separate on the Federal return requires that you not fund any type of IRA (unless your total income, less a few adjustments, is less than $10,000) and sacrifice a number of different credits and deductions.

Ohio has created a lose-lose situation for working families.

The fix is simple: Ohio should allow us to choose a filing status different from the Federal return’s.

Tell your legislator that you are pro-choice on Filing Status.

Neighboring states including Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia allows this; why not Ohio?

The November 2004 election exerted vigor in Clermont County political activity. We saw unprecedented numbers of volunteers crawl out of the woodwork to do the job for their candidate and his fellow party office holders. We were there and enjoyed the enthusiastic response under the direction of the Bush-Cheney team. So how did we do? I measured the effectiveness as follows: At the end of the primary season we had 104,814 registered voters in Clermont County. Of that, 36,012 were Republicans and 15,222 were Democrats. On election day, 33,288 Republicans voted. That was a 92.4% turnout of registered Republicans. The Democrats had 14,025 of their voters make it to the polls. That was a 92.1% turnout. To Thea and the round up crew: Great job!

1. Voter Vault Coordinator
2. Research Analyst

• The law becomes effective on March 31, 2005
• Corporate contributions are allowed up to a maximum of $10,000 to the State Party and $5,000 to the County Parties
• Full disclosure is required for every dollar raised at the State and County level

• A primary reduces our candidates chances in the general election by 45 percent to 65 percent
• Eliminates two of our strongest candidates from a statewide ticket
• Two to four new statewide candidates will be required
• Threatens our majority on the state apportionment board. (The Apportionment Board, established by Article 11 of the Ohio Constitution, consists of the Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of State, and two members, one appointed by the majority party and one appointed by the minority party of the Ohio General Assembly. The Board meets once every 10 years following the results of the federal decennial census. The five-member Board is responsible for redrawing boundaries for each of the 99 Ohio House and 33 Ohio Senate districts to reflect population changes. The General Assembly redraws the Congressional Districts.)

• Quarterly meetings
• Discuss issues and report back to the full committee
• Analyze, review and amend ORP political plans
• Act as regional chair and work with field reps
• Communicate ORP services and deliver them
• Work with county chairs on candidate and grass roots goals