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The Cincinnati Beacon
NAACP Voter Education Guide: Taxing Stock Options?
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
 Photo courtesy of here.
This weekend, The Cincinnati Beacon’s Print Edition of the NAACP Voter Education Guide will hit newsstands. (And yes, we will post an updated list of locations.) I encourage everyone to get a hard-copy of the guide to get a nice profile of several candidates based on the NAACP questionnaire. We decided to compliment this with a web version that compares candidates by question. So for today, we begin with the following inquiry and all responses gathered:
Do you believe that the city should tax stock-options of companies for the purpose of generating revenue for the City? Please explain.
Justin Jeffre (Green):
Cincinnati needs to tax stock options to reverse the current bad habit of giving hand-outs to the favored few corporations on the backs of the working class and the poor. If company executives threaten to leave the City, they do so facing long commutes with the rising price of gas. The needs of the whole City should go before the needs of a few executives.
Michael Earl Patton (Libertarian):
No. First, I think that this particular tax increase may cause company executives to move to a suburb instead of Cincinnati itself. Second, there are enforcement difficulties relating to how options are priced that mean it may be a lot of effort to collect relatively little in taxes.
Brian Garry (Democrat):
Yes. All income should be taxed. Stock Options are simply another form of payment and should, therefore, be subject to the city’s 2.1% income tax. At a time when our city is facing a financial crisis, this seems like a perfectly viable solution to me.
Pat Fischer (Republican):
No, we are trying to be more, not less, competitive. Such a tax would severely hinder Cincinnati’s ability to attract publicly traded companies to our City.
Most major cities have a thriving African-American businesses community because of credit available through minority owned and controlled banks. That is why I am leading an effort (and am the only candidate running for Council who is doing so) to create a minority controlled Community Bank in Cincinnati. This would create jobs, increase home ownership and support the tax base in the African-American community and throughout our entire city.
David Crowley (Democrat):
Cincinnati is the only major City in Ohio that does not tax stock options, which it has the authority to do. Proposals have been brought before Council to change the policy so stock options are taxed. The most recent vote on the matter took place on December 8, 2004 at which time I voted in favor of taxing stock options, which would have generated about $3 million annually, the measure failed on a 5-4 vote.
Greg Harris (Democrat):
I do not think Cincinnati can tax itself into prosperity, and a stock-options tax should only be considered if the city nears a point of fiscal crisis. I would far prefer that the City aggressively pursue a course of achieving significant savings by consolidating select City agencies or services with the county and its inner-ring suburbs.
Jeff Berding (Democrat):
I oppose taxing stock options. I am committed to making government as efficient as possible rather than raising taxes. We cannot afford to make the City tax structure any less competitive while we continue to lose employers to municipalities outside the City. I am interested in having a task force to study what changes to our tax structure can help us to attract new jobs and industry and in doing so increase our tax revenues.
Roxanne Qualls (Charterite):
I believe that at the point at which options are exercised they should be taxed as income. This is standard practice by the Federal government, and recognizes that options are a way to give both income and incentives to
employees.
Mitch Painter (Independent):
Tax options definitely need to be taxed to create an enormous amount of revenue for the city. The fact that the options have been untaxed for so long is simply unacceptable. We need leaders that will represent the common man, not big business. We need drastic, bold, action-oriented leadership today to insure people our represented in government as they should be!
Chris Bortz (Charterite):
I’m open to the discussion but in general, I think we need to keep Cincinnati’s tax environment competitive. We are trying to grow businesses not chase them away. Income tax pays for ALL city services since the City receives just a sliver of property taxes (most goes to the County and Schools) and zero sales tax (except a tiny amount from an entertainment surcharge). The workers are what makes the City’s budget float. If we can get more people in jobs in the city, our budget will be more stable.
Andre Harper (Republican):
I do not believe that the city should not tax stock options because I believe that the city should not tax every source of income they can think of. The city should work to increase sales tax revenue and income tax revenue by creating more jobs and reasons for people to spend money in the city.
Minette Cooper (Democrat):
I have grave concerns that enacting the tax would have the unintended consequence of discouraging new business from moving into the city and encourage current businesses to leave the city which would subsequently cost us more money in the end… I would want to see an in-depth study by the finance department before I made a decision.
Laketa Cole (Democrat):
Yes, and I supported it when it was proposed to Council some time ago. Everyone should be treated equally.
Steve Pavelish (Independent):
No. As an economist from the private sector there is ample proof that over taxation has the OPPOSITE effect and in the long run it can hamper the generation of new revenue.
John Eby (Republican):
No, Council’s first priority is to expand the economic base of the city. We can accomplish that by creating a business friendly environment within the city. We must remain competitive or risk losing more business to Northern Kentucky, Butler Township, and Liberty Township. We must think in terms of “And” and not “Or”. We must build our economic base so that the tax base is sufficient to address the societal necessities of our neediest citizens.
Cecil Thomas (Democrat):
I believe that the taxation of stock-options is an option that should at least be explored. The City of Cincinnati has a responsibility to consider all opportunities available to generate revenue for the City.
Leslie Ghiz (Republican):
I do not believe the City should tax stock options. To balance our budget, I will push for cutting unnecessary spending and find other, non-taxing methods of revenue generation. I believe a better way to increase revenues is to create an environment in our City that is attractive for businesses to locate.
The following candidates did not respond to the NAACP questionnaire:
Melanie Bates
Joan Kaup
Chris Monzel
Sam Malone
George Zamary
Charles Winburn
John Cranley
Wendell Young
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