State taxpayers willing to give more to endangered wildlife, injured vets

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By Andrew J. Tobias, Staff Writer Updated 10:52 AM Monday, February 20, 2012

Compared to 10 years ago, Ohioans filing their state income taxes today contribute less to Ohio political parties through their tax forms, but they give more to environmental preservation and injured veterans.

In 2011 about 261,000 people, compared to 512,000 in 2002, checked a box on their Ohio income tax forms to direct $1 of taxes they already paid to the Ohio Political Party Fund. That money is split among Ohio Republican and Democratic parties to cover administrative costs and fund get-out-the-vote efforts.

In addition, taxpayers last year could choose to donate to any of three causes through their tax returns: a fund that gives money to injured veterans, and a pair that donate to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for programs that preserve riverbanks and wildlife.

All three raised more money than the Ohio Political Party check box; the most popular was the Military Injury Relief Fund, to which 32,900 people opted to donate a total of $481,000. All of it goes for tax-free $500 grants (the amount has ranged as high as $1,000, but was reduced this year) to veterans injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Ohio Department of Taxation officials said.

Overall, donations from tax forms are down about 20 percent since 2006. The addition of a new giving option this year, a box to write in donations to the Ohio Historical Society, could further decrease the amount each fund receives. Tax officials have generally observed that the more charitable options people have to choose from on their tax forms, the less each cause receives, said Ronald Alt, senior manager of economic research for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation of Tax Administrators.

“I think particularly once you get a lot of them, they tend to really dilute,” Alt said.

Burt Logan, executive director of the Ohio Historical Society, said his agency lobbied to get onto the tax forms to help fund historical preservation in Ohio for years before finally making it on this year.

“Our intent was never to take money away from any other purpose, but simply because we believe in the importance of Ohio history,” Logan said.

The administrative move that created the Ohio Historical Society donation allows the society to decide how to spend the money it receives. Logan said it will pay for competitive grants for historical projects across Ohio, minus the salary of a grant administrator.

Logan said he doesn’t know how much people will decide to give, other than that the other donation options all receive six figures a year.

“We hope that over time people will realize the value it will be providing, and will be willing to make that tax checkoff,” Logan said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or andrew.tobias@coxinc.com.

Data and graphics reporter Gerald Fullam contributed to this story.