Here are 7 key takeaways from Tom’s reporting:
1. Price tag: As of early 2025, the state had 177 tax exemptions, credits or deductions worth more than $12 billion a year. This is more than the state’s total collection in personal income tax last fiscal year.
2. One program: Ohio’s Job Creation Tax Credit is one of the biggest. It is administered by the state Tax Credit Authority. It gives massive tax credits to companies in exchange for job creation.
3. The big four: Four companies in recent years — Intel, Honda, Joby and Anduril — have received more than $1.2 billion in Job Creation Tax Credits combined.
4. Waiting for payoff: These projects are slow to produce results. Intel received the largest incentive package in state history. It was supposed to open chip fabrication plants this year, but they may not open until 2030 or later — if ever.
5. Supporters say: Officials with the Ohio Department of Development say the credits are “performance based” and “issued only when companies deliver on their commitments.”
- “Each approved project generates new payroll, local and state tax revenue, and long-term economic growth that would not occur if the investment happened elsewhere,” said an agency spokesman.
6. Critics say: Zach Schiller, research director for Policy Matters Ohio and a co-author of a new report on these programs, argues that any payoff to Ohio is difficult to see.
- “Ohio continues to underperform the nation, and it’s expected to continue to underperform the nation, on most of the key or many of the key economic indicators of economic health — job creation, unemployment rate, GDP (gross domestic product) growth, etc.,” he told the Dayton Daily News.
7. Project update: Tom spoke to Rick Riggle, chief operating officer of L-H Battery Company building an electric vehicle batter plant near Jeffersonville. He said the plant is well on its way and producing sample batteries. “We’ve been really busy over in Jeffersonville,” Riggle told Tom.
The full story: Go here for Tom’s full story, including details on the tax breaks given to, and current state of, the four projects mentioned above and more perspective on the pros and cons of these tax breaks.
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