Ohio AG calls federal American Rescue Plan guidelines ‘meaningless’
(The Center Square) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called the U.S. Treasury Department’s recent guidance on how states can use American Rescue Plan money meaningless as he continues to fight in court to allow states to make their own taxing decisions.
As states began applying for the taxpayer-supported COVID-19 pandemic aid, the Treasury Department spelled out how the money can be used, prohibiting things such as paying for tax cuts, funding debt payments or building up reserves.
“While I appreciate the guidance offered [Monday] from the Treasury Department, the secretary’s own lawyers have already all but admitted that a bureaucrat’s regulation can’t fix an unconstitutional law,” Yost said in a statement. “So these meaningless directives on enforcing this tax mandate ought to be treated with the same seriousness as other pieces of fantasy fiction.”
The tax cut prohibition is what led to Yost’s lawsuit, claiming Congress crossed a line. He filed the lawsuit a day after 21 attorneys general from across the country sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen threatening to sue if the tax mandate was not narrowed.
Attorneys general from 13 other states then filed a lawsuit in late March in U.S. District Court in Alabama seeking the same relief Yost asked for in Ohio.
The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based think tank, filed briefs in support of Yost’s suit, along with two others, challenging the mandate.
“The guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department on the tax mandate attempts to outline the prickly details of what the states are forbidden to do but it does not make President Biden’s tax mandate any more constitutional than it was when Congress passed it,” said Jay Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. “The tax mandate is unenforceable and must be overturned.”
Treasury’s guidance also did little to clear up concerns for Ohio townships, which remain in the dark on whether they will receive funding.
Three Ohio townships were included in ARP funding, two in Hamilton County and one in Butler County. All will receive more than $6.6 million. The guidelines included allocations for metropolitan cities and local governments with more than 50,000 in population.
The Ohio Township Association said if the more than 1,000 other townships are ineligible for direct funds, they could receive funds from a voluntary transfer from other governments.
“It is crucial that all of Ohio’s 1,308 townships – whose communities total over four million Ohioans – receive these pandemic relief funds, just like Ohio’s other forms of local government,” said Heidi Fought, OTA executive director. “Townships have been hit hard economically by COVID-19. If they are not determined eligible for direct funds or provided funds via a transfer from an eligible entity, over one thousand units of local government will be put at a disadvantage when trying to recover from the pandemic’s effects.”
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