From Bambi to Les Wexner: Inside Ohio’s $12 billion tax giveaways

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio gives away more than $12 billion a year in tax breaks — revenue the state chooses not to collect — yet those breaks rarely face the same scrutiny as spending on schools or health care.

The list includes everything from the quirky “Bambi exemption” for building deer enclosures to basics like no sales tax on food or prescription drugs. It even stretches to the “Les Wexner credit” on conveyor belts.

In all, Ohio has 177 tax exemptions, credits, and deductions, according to a new report by Policy Matters Ohio , a left-leaning, non-profit policy research group.

“This is an enormous amount of revenue,” Policy Matters Ohio research director Zach Schiller said. “No one is saying it should all be eliminated. We’re saying some of it is special interest breaks that are not