Vivek Ramaswamy talks abolishing income tax, property taxes and conservative prosperity at Turning Point USA event Tuesday

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy responds to audience questions at a Turning Point USA event held at the Mershon Auditorium on Tuesday. Credit: Daniel Bush | Campus Photo Editor

Vivek Ramaswamy, Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate, was met with both strong support and opposition at a rally put on by the Ohio State chapter of Turning Point USA.

Ramaswamy drew in hundreds to the event at Mershon Auditorium Tuesday night, at which he promoted the upcoming primary election and pledged to abolish income tax, cut property taxes and usher in conservative prosperity for Ohioans. 

Ramaswamy was joined by influencer Savannah Chrisley, Fox & Friends Host Lawrence Jones and Laine Schoneberger, chief investment officer of Yrefy, a student loan refinance company.

“By the end of 2027, high-paying jobs will be moving back to Ohio because we’re ending capital gains taxation and eventually income taxation in the state,” Ramaswamy said. “Your electric bills will be lower because we’re producing more energy right here in our home state. You should keep that money, put it back to live your life.”

After his opening speech, Ramaswamy invited Jones onto the stage to talk about AI, faith and the conservative solution to the affordability problem, before opening the dialogue to the audience.

Kenny Wong, a first-year in physics, voiced concerns about how Ramaswamy accumulated his wealth.

Wong cited Roivant, a biotech company Ramaswamy founded which buys shelved or discontinued drugs from pharmaceutical companies that it develops for a profit, according to the company’s past chief development officer in an interview with MedCity News.

Under Ramaswamy’s tenure as CEO, Roivant bought an Alzheimer’s drug — Interperdine — that had failed four clinical trials, according to Wong. The company bought the drug for around $5 million and went on the stock market at $315 million. After another test failure, stock plummeted.

“Their stock fell 75% in a single day and a large stakeholder of that fund was the California Teachers Pension Fund,” Wong said.

Ashton Kennedy, a first-year in political science and philosophy, criticized the Trump administration’s border and immigration policies and Ramaswamy’s claims in support of them.

“They’re wrong about all the stuff they are putting out about undocumented immigrants and their impact on the economy and the criminal justice system,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy cited Obama’s higher deportation record and Wisconsin and Cato Institute studies claiming undocumented immigrants are the smallest group of violent offenders.

Kennedy attempted to ask Ramaswamy about the issue in the Q&A but was heckled by the audience and pushed by Ramaswamy and Jones to ask a more concrete question. 

Ramaswamy did agree with deportation of undocumented immigrants in response.

Schoneberger, on behalf of the event’s sponsor Yrefy, gave opening remarks at 6:50 p.m. He said the primary reason for debt in the U.S. was government waste and proposed removing government oversight from lending entirely.

Schoneberger expressed his gratitude for Turning Point USA and the late Charlie Kirk, who partnered with his company to bring financial freedom to college students.

Additionally, Chrisley introduced Ramaswamy before his appearance, asking the audience to approach political conversations with respect, referencing Kirk’s sit-down with Gavin Newsom.

“Growth does not live in comfort — growth lives in the room you just simply don’t want to walk into,” Chrisley said.

Turning Point USA is a non-profit that gained notoriety for controversial conservative conversations held by its founder, the late Charlie Kirk, and college students around the U.S. Its stated goal is to ‘identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government,’ according to its website.

The visit is part of This is the Turning Point, an ongoing segment following Kirk’s assassination aimed at honoring his mission, according to the event sign-up page.