Columbus, OH – On Wednesday, The Buckeye Institute filed its appeal with Ohio’s Tenth District Court of Appeals in Buckeye v. Kilgore—the case challenging the constitutionality of localities taxing the income of nonresidents who did not work within the city of Columbus due to the pandemic.

“The Buckeye Institute asked the Ohio Court of Appeals to reaffirm what the Ohio Supreme Court has already recognized time and again: that the Due Process Clause requires local taxation of nonresidents to be based upon where any work was actually performed,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. “The Buckeye Institute’s employees—along with thousands of others across Ohio—had municipal income taxes unlawfully taken from them during Ohio’s stay-at-home order and throughout the pandemic. Although it is certainly understandable that the legislature wanted to preserve the status quo during an emergency, constitutional protections must still apply.”

Buckeye v. Kilgore was filed by The Buckeye Institute on July 2, 2020, in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against the city of Columbus and the state of Ohio on behalf of itself and three of its employees: Rea S. Hederman, Jr. of Powell, Greg R. Lawson of Westerville, and Joe Nichols of Newark Township. The case was dismissed on April 27, 2021, and Buckeye’s notice of appeal was filed April 28, 2021.

The Buckeye Institute has filed four other cases similarly challenging House Bill 197’s unconstitutional overreach.

• Denison v. Kilgore was filed in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in February 2021 and settled in favor of Buckeye’s client Mr. Denison in April 2021.
• Schaad v. Alder was filed in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas in February 2021.
• Curcio v. Hufford was filed in Lucas County Court of Common Pleas in March 2021.
• Morsy v. Dumas was filed in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in April 2021.

The Buckeye Institute also filed an amicus brief in New Hampshire v. Massachusetts with the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Granite Staters from unconstitutional taxation by Massachusetts.

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