Supreme Court of Ohio: Double taxation case set for mediation
COLUMBUS — The Supreme Court of Ohio on Wednesday announced that Community Legal Aid's lawsuit against the state of Ohio claiming illegal double taxation of Ohio taxpayers is in mediation.
All parties involved, including Legal Aid's clients, Ohio Tax Commissioner Jeff McClain and Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague, have agreed to attempt to find a resolution to the problem using an impartial mediator through the court.
All discussions will be confidential and not open to the public, but Rachel Nader, Community Legal Aid's advocacy director, said she is encouraged by this "step in the right direction."
"We're thrilled to take this next step in resolving this issue. Our clients just want to be made whole. This is a great chance to make that happen," Nader said in a news release.
The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of Ohio earlier this month, claims the Ohio Department of Taxation is improperly collecting taxes from taxpayers across the state.
Part of the lawsuit is seeking a long-term solution to what Legal Aid calls a systemic problem that disproportionately impacts low-income Ohioans, by asking both McClain's and Sprague's offices to formally adopt policies it says they should have adopted years ago, per state law, the release states.
"Of course, we want our clients to get the money they're owed, but we want this to stop happening and keep any future taxpayers from being harmed," Dana Goldstein, lead attorney on the case, said. "We don't just want to fix this problem for our clients. We want to keep it from happening again."
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Supreme Court of Ohio: Double taxation case set for mediation."