1984 was truly Orwellian in terms of taxes compared to today

By John Fortney
On The Record
https://ohiosenate.gov/

1984.

Great year for rock-n-roll. Van Halen released its breakthrough album "1984."

MTV was playing “Jump” and “Panama” while “Ghostbusters” cracked audiences up by introducing them to a “focused, non-terminal repeating phantasm or a class-five full roaming vapor-real nasty one too,” otherwise known as “Slimer.”

However, there was something absolutely terrifying by today’s standards. The state and federal tax rates.

I read with a chuckle the naivety of a recent guest column posted in The Columbus Dispatch by an aspiring young mind working towards a master’s degree in public administration at Ohio State University. Unfortunately, an internship at the ever listing to the left Policy Matters Ohio may have further clouded a sense of the reality.

The editorial, “Richest Ohioans aren’t paying fair share. A fair tax system would fix that,” is an excellent depiction of indoctrinated minds fixated on woke rather than the real world. 

The editorial focused on a “Fair Share” tax. But who defines that? Liberals?

Big government bureaucrats?

Also, the editorial criticized the General Assembly for finally getting to a flat tax of 2.75% and claimed that things were much better when Ohio had 9 income tax brackets with a top marginal rate of 7.5%. In fact, the editorial dug-in deeper, putting the amount of state income taxes forgone at $17 billion over two decades of income tax cuts by the legislature.

I know, I know. The unmitigated gaul of letting the taxpayers keep $17 billion of their own money.

See the disconnect? Today’s left actually believes this makes sense. Well, we know what makes sense.

Senate Republicans believe it is your money first and not the government’s money. Yet, every time tax brackets were repealed, Democrats and liberal special interest groups promoted the narrative that government programs were at risk as was the state budget. The state budget represents and works for the taxpayers, not for the government bureaucracy. Today, Ohio continues to run budget surpluses even after forgoing that $17 billion.

In 1984, the federal tax rate was 49% for earnings over $100,000 and 50% starting at anything over $109,000. In Ohio the highest rate that year was 9.5% for earnings over $100,000. Factor in local income taxes, and in 1984, people could be paying upwards of 70% to the government. Truly “Orwellian.”

Still, today’s young liberal minds seem to think that’s just fine. They should be able to punish success, innovation, and entrepreneurs by deciding who is rich and what their "fair share" should be. So, let’s run with that for a moment. 

They believe Ohio’s current 2.75% flat tax rate isn’t fair to people making less than those who make more.

But it is hard to run from the logic. If you make more—you pay more taxes and if you make less—you pay less taxes.  Plus, people earning less than $26,050 pay zero, nada, zilch, in state income tax. That’s a policy that might help young aspiring college kids keep more of their own money they earn from a part time job for tuition.

The editorial also praised Massachusetts “Fair Share” tax raising $6 billion from the taxpayers in just two years. That’s 4% additional for earnings over $1 million. 

Well, Ohio welcomes those tired taxpayers from “The Bay State” to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in “The Buckeye State” where you get to keep more of your own money.

It's just one of the reasons CNBC ranked Ohio as the number one state to do business in for 2026.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Biennial Budget next year completely repeals the state income tax. Welcome to the real world where America was founded by people angry about aggressive taxation and “taxation without representation.” 

The real world as described by Dr. Ray Stantz in “Ghostbusters” still holds true today. “I’ve worked in the private sector, they expect results.” So do the people of Ohio.

John Fortney spent 25 years working as an news anchor and political reporter, holds a B.A. in Business Management from Marietta College and is the Director of Communications for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus. He was 16 in 1984.