June 6, 2025 (The Post (Ohio University)) –
Ohio House Bill 96 is currently in committee in the Ohio Senate. The primary sponsor of the bill is Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Asheville). If passed, the bill would eliminate the sales tax exemptions currently in place for newspapers and newspaper subscriptions.
The repeals on the sales and use taxes would be put into place Jan. 1, 2026. All newspapers published at least biweekly and purchased at places of business, vending machines or through subscriptions are exempt, as stated in the bill.
Dean Ridings, a representative of America’s Newspapers State Advocacy Coalition, wrote to the Ohio General Assembly on behalf of the Coalition to encourage them to consider the effects the bill would have on the newspaper industry. He also includes how the communities still primarily rely on newspapers.
“Taxing newspaper subscriptions will increase the cost of access for Ohioans who rely on local newspapers for accurate, community-specific reporting,” Ridings wrote in ANSAC’s address to the assembly. “At a time when trust in local media is essential, we should be reducing barriers to access – not creating new ones.”
Ridings also stated at the end of his address that “the minimal gain to the state’s revenue is not worth the long-term impact on Ohio’s communities and the essential access to local news they depend on.”
According to the Pew Research Center, 34% of people in rural towns rely on traditional forms of media for their local news, such as print newspapers, which may become less accessible as a result of the bill.
Monica Nieporte, the president and executive director of the Ohio News Media Association, spoke before the Senate Finance Committee to urge them to reconsider the bill.
One of the topics she focused on in her address was how the bill does not take certain scenarios into account, such as consumers being unable to pay for their newspaper subscription and print plant managers unsure whether they can still make a profit.
“Your local newspapers provide critical information and stories about Ohio communities,” Nieporte wrote in her address. “They sponsor and support a lot of community events and even create some themselves. Your constituents in these communities will be the ones who suffer.”
One argument in support of the bill is that many Ohioans simply don’t read newspapers anymore and don’t rely on them as a news source.
However, in Nieporte’s address, she noted that ONMA conducted a statewide survey last fall based on Ohio demographics. They found that 84% of survey respondents regularly read Ohio’s print and online newspapers.
House Bill 96 has already passed in the House, and if it passes in the Senate, it would then be sent to Gov. Mike DeWine to either sign it into law or veto it. The impact of the bill for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years is an estimated $22.6 million.
kh303123@ohio.edu
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