Ohio’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Biden government on Wednesday over a clause in the recently signed pandemic relief bill.
In a complaint filed in the federal district court in Ohio, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) contested a provision in the law that prohibits state and local government from using pandemic aid to offset tax cuts.
“Ohio seeks to prohibit federal employees from complying with the unconstitutional Tax Mandate and seeks declaratory protection by establishing that the State of Ohio, in accordance with the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, retains the freedom to administer its own tax policy,” the suit says.
The lawsuit was filed against the Secretary of Finance Janet Yellen
Janet Louise YellenOn The Money: details on the timing of, 400 stimulus payments Yellen provides signature for paper money Huge struggle is approaching to raise taxes MORE and the Treasury Department. Neither the White House nor the Treasury Department responded immediately when asked to comment.
President biden
Joe BidenBiden and Congress must take bold steps to avoid violent extremism The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Biden faces the Republican Party’s immigration and obstruction offensive. Democrats defend border crisis MORE signed the bill last week, authorizing aid, including direct payments to individuals and $ 195.3 billion to states and Washington, DC – including about $ 5.5 billion for Ohio, according to the lawsuit.
Aid is widely distributed based on the number of unemployed workers in each state.
Yost argues in his lawsuit that Congress violated constitutional restrictions by trying to control how states define their fiscal policies.
“In accepting this money, the State must sacrifice its sovereign authority to define tax policy in any way it sees fit, because changes in tax policy that reduce revenues violate the Tax Mandate,” says the process. “Such violations can be used to force the State to return the funding received through the Law.”
The provision drew the ire of conservative state officials, concerned that it might hinder future tax-reduction efforts.
Yost was not among a group of 21 Republican state attorney generals who sent a letter to Yellen this week expressing concern about the mandate, saying it “would represent Congress’ biggest attempt to invade state sovereignty in the history of our Republic”.
—Updated at 15:50