Patti Walker

Ohio sacrificed a whopping $1.6 billion in state-level sales tax revenue for 2025 to appeal to data centers in a massive corporate handout. The original estimate in foregone revenue was supposed to be only $136 million. That means state fiscal projections were off by more than 1,000%. This is obviously budget malfeasance. Everyone in the USA should find this unacceptable. I wouldn't be shocked if backdoor deals and bribes were involved. If you take that $1.6 billion in uncollected tax money and you calculate it as if Ohio had collected it and shared it normally, then Ohio public schools would've received around $374 million (which is about $262 extra for every single student). Btw, the $1.6 billion figure covers ONLY the state-level sales tax revenue, so if you factor in other waived taxes and property tax abatements, the total handout is even higher. Instead of letting tech companies skip out on billions in taxes, that money should be helping local schools buy books, pay teachers, and improve classrooms.