The Ohio Estate Tax has been eliminated effective January 1, 2013. This tax has often been referred to as the worst estate tax in the country due to its small threshold amount where the tax starts — $338,333. For example, Connecticut’s estate tax exemption is $3.5 million and Rhode Island’s estate tax exemption is $859,350. By eliminating the estate tax, the State of Ohio is sending a strong message that it wants to keep its residents and businesses, versus losing them to other states. After all, the goal is to bring businesses to our state, not drive businesses away, along with the desire of keeping our current residents in our state for the rest of their lives. Elimination of the Ohio estate tax might cost the state a small amount of money initially, but will pay larger amounts of money to the state long-term. By eliminating the estate tax, more economic growth, more jobs, and more business expansion will help Ohio’s current lagging economy. This is a huge step forward by the State in the right direction to making our state stronger.