December 4, 2008 10:08AM # Ohio Republicans Like Hollywood More than Taxpayers and Kids By [Adam B. Schaeffer](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-b-schaeffer) --- SHARE What in god’s name is wrong with Ohio Republicans? There’s a party-line vote in the state House on costly and market-distorting [tax credits for the film industry](http://www.cleveland.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news/1228383239108270.xml&coll=2), and it’s the Democrats calling it out as fiscally irresponsible? I know the Ohio Republican Party has done much, much worse over the years, but come on … when has enough damage been done? The *Dayton Daily News* [reports](http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/12/01/ddn120108ohbudgetweb.html) the government is facing “a budget nightmare for Ohio, which is now looking at a $640 million shortfall for the current fiscal year and as much as a $7.3 billion funding gap in the upcoming two-year budget.” Perhaps Republicans could try to pass *education* tax credits before they leave. You know, the *one* and only tax credit that really does [save](http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/friedman/research/ShowResearchItem.do?id=10079) taxpayers’ money and the *only* tax credit that actually [decreases](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8812) market distortion rather than increasing it. A [fiscal impact analysis](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9515) of our [Public Education Tax Credit](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8812) shows that Ohio could save *billions of dollars* with school choice. To give Ohio politicians a sense of the numbers we’re talking here, Illinois [saves](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9515) $5.1 billion in the first 10 years and $1.6 billion every year after the program has been in operation for 15 years. Wisconsin [saves](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9515) $9.3 billion in the first 10 years and $3.2 billion every year after the program has been in operation for 15 years. But that probably makes too much sense. As an Ohioan, this pains me. But at least we’ll get to see what the Ohio Democratic Party wants to tax and spend on when they take over next year … ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).