This Commission was established out of concern for the relationship between the Ohio economy and its tax structure. The economy has gone through a long period of slow growth relative to the rest of the nation, and though the early 1990s have seen some improvement, all signs are that this long term pattern will continue into the next century. The state\u27s economic and population structure is changing. The Ohio of today is less of a manufacturing center and more of a producer of services, earns more income from transfer payments and less from wages, consumes more services than goods, and is home to increasing numbers of the elderly and a growing concentration of the poor.
Two major questions were central to the work of this Commission. The first is whether the present tax structure is consistent with the objective of attracting more investment and jobs to the state, and moving Ohio to a higher economic growth path. The second is whether the present tax system fits Ohio\u27s new economic structure and spreads the tax burden fairly over all sectors of the economy. The evidence suggests that the present tax system is deficient on both counts. The Commission recommended a comprehensive reform (Commission 1994)