The Fiscal Relation Test

In Angell v. City of Toledo (1950), 153 Ohio St3d 179,91 N.E.2d 250, the Ohio Supreme Court adopted the fiscal relation test set out in Wisconsin v. J.C. Penney (1940), 311 U.S. 435, 444, 61 S.Ct. 246, 250. A Municipal income tax must bear "a fiscal relation to the protection, opportunities, and benefits given by the municipality, or in other words, whether the municipality has given anything for which it can ask a return." Id. at 444, 250. In Tolliver v. City of Middletown (12th Dist. July 30, 1999) the appellate court found that the ordinance violated Due Process because the indirect benefits the MG drivers received from Middletown were not enough to create a "sufficient nexus between the benefits and opportunities received from the City of Middletown and the wage tax imposed upon them." Id. In that case the truck drivers only parked their cars in the city during the workday and drove the company trucks out of the city to do their work.