Sales and Use Tax
Admissions Tax
Amounts Collected by Municipal Corporations, Calendar Year
2003
Municipal corporations are permitted to levy a tax on
admissions to places of amusement or entertainment since they
are not prevented from doing so by the State. The tax is
generally charged as a percent of the cost of entrance to
entertainment events such as movies, theme parks, and
professional sports, as well as on country club dues. The
exceptions to this are: the Village of Burton (Geauga County)
which charges 17¢ per ticket to a local festival; and the
City of Reynoldsburg (Franklin County) whose tax only applies
to "coin operated amusement devices". The tax cannot be
imposed on admissions charged to events sponsored by public
institutions such as college or high school sporting events.
During the collection of this data, seven municipalities
reported not having the tax in effect though positive
responses were reported for calendar year 2002. In addition,
three new taxes were reported in the Village of Oakwood
(Cuyahoga), the Village of Newburgh Heights (Cuyahoga) and
the City of Fairborn (Greene).
There are four municipalities that did not submit calendar
year 2003 data so their prior year’s collections are shown.
This results in admission tax collections of $22.0 million.
Assuming these municipalities still had the admissions tax in
effect in calendar year 2003, a total of 64 municipalities
(50 cities and 14 villages) levied the tax.
Admissions tax collections for calendar year 2003 ranged from
$1,338 in the City of Berea (Cuyahoga County) to $11.3
million in the City of Cleveland (Cuyahoga County). Tax rates
ranged from 0.5 percent to 8.0 percent. Approximately 73.4
percent of the admissions taxes reported were at a 3 percent
tax rate.