Lawmakers: Please avoid this first, which will hurt our industry

Being the first is normally a good thing. Ask Ohio natives Thomas Edison, Neil Armstrong or the Wright Brothers. But first isn't always best. And if some Ohio lawmakers have their way, the Buckeye State will be the first in the nation to assess a triple-threat sales tax on newspapers. House Bill 96, also known as the state operating budget for calendar year 2026-27, includes provisions that would eliminate the nearly 100-year-old sales tax exemption on newspapers, businesses who advertise with newspapers in print, and printing. The bill currently sits in conference committee, where the House and Senate must come to a resolution on the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. According to Monica Nieporte, executive director of the Ohio News Media Association, there are three concerning sales tax exemption changes in HB 96. One repeals the sales tax exemption on newspapers. Newspapers would be taxed at 5.75 percent moving forward, amounting to another hit on small businesses like most newspapers are, and more importantly, to Ohio citizens who purchase newspapers. The second refers to flyers, catalogs and other material inserted into newspapers, which would hurt both our business and that which relies on our vehicle (a newspaper) to deliver their message. And the third would repeal a sales tax exemption related to machinery, equipment and material used in the production of printed product. This would hurt us most directly, as maintenance of the equipment that produces newspapers is our biggest expense. An Edison-approved lightbulb moment to those making these decisions: Please do not further hurt a challenged, yet important industry that plays a critical role in local communities. A recent survey from the Ohio News Media Association found that 84 percent of respondents read newspapers regularly in either their print or digital forms, and that 75 percent said having a local newspaper is very important or important to them. Say what you want about local media, but people still want us. We print more more than 20,000 newspapers at our production facility in Findlay each night. Our digital readership has never been larger. People still want their local paper, and we are doing everything we can to still print and preserve them. These damaging lawmaker actions toward newspapers will challenge these numbers — I can almost guarantee that newspapers in some corners of Ohio will fold within the next few years as a result of these extra financial burdens. Talking about competitive disadvantage, newspapers once were at the top of the food chain for both news and advertising. Our industry was king, and owned both markets. This hasn't been the case in a long time, however. There are more "news" outlets than ever, as anyone with a keyboard can become a publisher. And the advertising landscape has so many more options than before. There are endless ways to creatively advertise. We are still navigating this sea to be a continuous, historical source of news and to continue to shine as a trusted advertising vehicle that delivers print and digital results. But actions like these in House Bill 96 actually gives us a delayed start in the current iteration of this race, as other forms of media are not facing similar type of handicaps at the state's hands. In terms of printing, there are only a handful of functional presses left in Ohio. We are proud to operate one of them, and play a major role in keeping more than 25 titles printed here each week. This one-of-a-kind action puts us press operators at a disadvantage compared to our neighbors in other states. If one is interested in cutting off the nose of one of America's most important industries, this is a good way to do it. I urge lawmakers to reconsider their repeal of sales tax exemption on newspapers so as not to hurt both our customers and our business. Please help us in our mission of continuing to be there for our communities — chronicling all of their wonderful firsts along the way. Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier, Findlay, the Sandusky Register, The Advertiser-Tribune, Tiffin, the Norwalk Reflector and Review Times, Fostoria. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.