Sales and Use Tax
Admissions Tax: Amounts Collected by Municipal
Corporations, Calendar Year 2009
Municipal corporations are permitted to levy a tax on
admissions to places of amusement or entertainment. 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 City of Middletown (Butler
County) which charges 25¢ per ticket/person to local events;
the Village of Burton (Geauga County) which charges either
25¢ or 0.16¢ per ticket/person to local events; and the
Village of McConnelsville which charges $10.00 per amusement
device. The tax cannot be imposed on admissions charged to
events sponsored by public institutions such as college or
high school sporting events.
There were four municipalities that did not submit calendar
year 2009 data. Using prior year's collections, it is
estimated that admission tax collections totaled $22.2
million in calendar year 2009; down 6.8 percent from calendar
year 2008. A total of 66 municipalities (50 cities and 16
villages) levied the tax.
There were seventeen municipalities that reported no
admissions tax revenue for calendar year 2009. For
those jurisdictions that did collect revenues, admissions tax
collections ranged from $103 in the Village of Struthers
(Mahoning County) to approximately $11.8 million in the City
of Cleveland (Cuyahoga County). Tax rates ranged from 0.50
percent to 8.00 percent. Approximately 68.2 percent of the
admissions taxes reported were at a 3.0 percent tax rate.