Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, and John Ream, Buckeye’s client in Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, join Kyle Brown, the owner of Clawhammer Supply, to discuss John’s challenge to the federal ban on home distilling, a law that makes it a felony to make whiskey at home. Robert breaks down the landmark court case, the Fifth Circuit vs. Sixth Circuit split, and why this case could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In The Hill, Robert Alt, the president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, distills down what’s at stake in Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury and McNutt v. U.S. Department of Justice, The Buckeye Institute’s two cases challenging the un-American and unconstitutional federal ban on home distilling.

As we approach Tax Day, Rea S. Hederman Jr., The Buckeye Institute’s vice president of policy, has a piece on Crain’s Cleveland Business on Ohio’s “popular flat-rate income tax.” Hederman writes, “After a decade of solid tax reforms, including a popular flat-rate income tax for all Ohio taxpayers, April 15 will sting less this year than it did last year. And when the flat-tax rate drops to 2.75% next year—saving $1 billion over two years—it will sting even less.”

In a joint Columbus Dispatch opinion editorial, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and The Buckeye Institute president and CEO Robert Alt write that the recent podcast-funding scandal demonstrates why JobsOhio needs external accountability, writing, “JobsOhio’s spending, results, successes and failures, should be audited and measured regularly, reliably, transparently, independently and publicly for the benefit of all Ohioans.”

Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, was publicly recognized from the Statehouse floor by Ohio’s House of Representatives for his accomplishment in summiting Mt. Everest on May 15, 2025. In his congratulatory proclamation, Alt’s State Representative—Brian Lorenz (Ohio’s 60th House District)—wrote that Robert “combined talent and competitive spirit with the highest levels of dedication to establish [him]self as a truly motivated athlete.”

In The Hill, The Buckeye Institute praises federal efforts to hold states accountable for mismanagement and fraud in welfare spending—particularly Medicaid and SNAP—and applauds U.S. Sen. Jon Husted for his recently introduced Upward Mobility Act, which will combine “several federal assistance programs to make them more efficient and encourage program recipients to work more,” and  will “reduce the impact of ‘benefit cliffs’ — which can eliminate public assistance if a recipient earns too much.”

In The Lima News, The Buckeye Institute outlines the household debt crisis facing millions of Americans. “The average Ohio household now carries more than $9,000 in credit card debt alone, and delinquency is increasing,” warns The Buckeye Institute. “Professional debt settlement may offer some borrowers a third way to reduce balances with creditors and avoid disruptive bankruptcy, but Ohio’s outdated debt-settlement laws restrict that option and should be revised.”

At The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute looks at the “elegant solution to one of Ohio’s thornier property tax problems” that the Ohio House of Representatives drafted and the General Assembly sent to Governor DeWine. The question: How to cut property taxes without hurting local public schools. The answer: Reduce the state’s annual sales tax holiday—a counterproductive tax gimmick—and use those funds to lower property taxes.

Buckeye v. IRS, The Buckeye Institute’s case challenging a tax law forcing nonprofit charities, including Buckeye itself, to hand over the private information of donors to the federal government every year is featured at Cleveland.com. “Ohio’s Buckeye Institute, a non-profit conservative think tank based in Columbus, says reporting donors in this way chills our First Amendment freedom of association, and it’s asking a federal court to stop the practice.”
 

In The Center Square, The Buckeye Institute praises policy proposals designed to make Ohio a leader in the AI race. “By providing regulatory clarity to technology firms and advanced industries, the Ohio Right to Compute Act will help attract skilled workers, retain talented graduates, leverage the state’s energy advantages, and mitigate investor risk in artificial intelligence. The state’s legislative message to burgeoning tech companies should be clear: Ohio is ready for them to build here, grow here, and succeed here.”