Vivek Ramaswamy says eliminating Ohio's capital gains tax is a top economic priority. His own campaign website describes his plan as 'phase out the state income tax — starting with eliminating capital gains taxes.' But why start there? His finances and on-the-record comments make clear his priority is to provide help to those at the very top, himself included.

In a campaign video, Ramaswamy said he wants Ohio to become 'the state you move to when you want to sell your business or your stocks.' That's a telling statement of priorities. Most Ohioans don't have a business to sell or a stock portfolio to cash out. Ramaswamy does.

Last year, as Innovation Ohio reported in April, Vivek Ramaswamy collected $768,968 from selling a single stock, which is more than 10 times what a typical Ohio family earns in a year. Ramaswamy, whose net worth is estimated at more than $1 billion, holds a portfolio spanning publicly traded stocks, private equity stakes, and investment funds, which are exactly the types of assets that generate capital gains. 

A new policy brief from the Innovation Ohio Education Fund breaks down exactly who benefits from eliminating capital gains taxes. According to analysts, Ohioans who make over $200,000 a year would rake in 82% of the benefit. Ohioans in the bottom 60%, or households earning up to $84,500, would save only $12 on average. The top 1%, with incomes above $753,900, would pocket an average of $6,424. Ramaswamy is in that category many times over. 

While the very wealthiest Ohioans rake in even more money, the costs fall on everyone else. The Ohio Legislative Service Commission estimates the proposal would drain up to $646 million from Ohio's budget in 2027 alone, with no replacement revenue proposed. One hundred forty-six school districts across Ohio would lose funding directly. Ramaswamy hasn't explained what gets cut to pay for it.

But this is only the beginning of what he has proposed. Ramaswamy has said capital gains elimination is the first step toward his goal of eliminating Ohio's income tax entirely. Innovation Ohio's February 2026 analysis documented what that would mean: a $9.8 billion annual hole in the state budget, bigger than Ohio's entire share of Medicaid, and equivalent to cutting state support for K-12 education by $2.44 billion. Filling that gap would require either a 65% increase in the sales tax or a 20% increase in property taxes statewide. His tax cut for the wealthy is a tax shift onto the backs of working people.

Kansas tried a version of this. They got slower job growth, cuts to schools and highways, credit downgrades, and higher sales taxes. A Republican-controlled legislature eventually repealed it.

Ramaswamy is asking Ohioans to believe he'll get a different result while personally standing to benefit more than almost anyone in the state from the policy he is championing. 

That's not an economic agenda. That's a return on investment.