Columbus, OH – In a new policy brief, Building a Responsible, Pro-Growth Budget, The Buckeye Institute offers forward-looking policies that Ohio lawmakers should adopt in the next budget to “begin improving Ohio’s tomorrow today.”

“Ohio’s more constrained fiscal environment requires a budget that manages current resources effectively and lays the foundation for sustainable, long-term prosperity,” said Greg R. Lawson, co-author of the paper and a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute. “By taking strategic, responsible steps to restrain public spending, promote economic growth, and reform failed government and education systems, Ohio can better align fiscal, tax, and education policies with the economic realities of the 21st century.”

The Buckeye Institute outlined the following five policies lawmakers should include in the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget:

• Embrace Fiscal Discipline. Ohio should tie any spending increases to dynamic inflation and population growth and apply the state appropriation limit to all funds. Had such a robust limit been in place in the last budget, which was bloated with federal largess, Ohio could have saved roughly $9 billion, making future budgets more sustainable.
• Pursue Pro-Growth Tax Policies. Undertake a comprehensive overhaul of Ohio’s tax structure to make it more competitive and index personal income tax rates against inflation to avoid a tax increase on Ohioans.
• Reform Outdated Local Government Systems. To address rising property taxes, the budget should include incentives for streamlining local governments and their services; it should require county commissioner approval before putting levies on ballots; expand on  House Bill 331 to dissolve underperforming villages efficiently; and limit local property tax breaks for developers and special interests so that they, too, share in the cost of local services.
• Fulfill the School Choice Promise. Ohio promised to put students first by making school choice universally available. But more must be done to fulfill this promise. The next budget should include The Buckeye Institute’s recommendations outlined in Fulfilling the Promise of Putting Students First.
• Align Higher Education with the 21st Century. Ohio taxpayers deserve a better return on their investments in education, and higher education should better align with the demands of the modern economy. To this end, lawmakers should adopt The Buckeye Institute-recommended policies in Transforming Higher Education in Ohio.

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