For Ohioans living on the edge of poverty, holding down a job can be difficult, especially when pay is too low for many to afford food, shelter and care for young children. Ohio’s 2018-2019 state budget failed to make investments needed to support Ohio’s vast number of workers in low-wage
The budget resolution narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday, bringing Congress one step closer to enacting $1.5 trillion in unpaid-for tax cuts largely for the wealthy and profitable corporations while making low- and middle-income Americans foot the bill. Regrettably, every Ohio Republican representative voted to side with special
Introduction The new budget for fiscal years (FY) 2018-19 cuts state aid for local governments, again. Lawmakers narrowed the state sales tax base, eliminating a revenue stream of about $158 million a year for counties and $38 million for transit agencies. They redistributed a big chunk of the municipal component
On Thursday, October 26, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass the Senate budget resolution, clearing the path for a tax overhaul mirroring the plan announced by President Trump and GOP leadership a month ago. The Senate budget resolution would allow the tax legislation to pass rapidly with
Introduction Ohio’s General Assembly dramatically increased spending in the lean 2018-19 budget for the drug epidemic ravaging the state. Funding for the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services rose by 16.4 percent over the prior, two-year budget. Lawmakers boosted funding for related services including public safety, public health, recovery
Introduction Lawmakers provide new funding in the 2018-19 Ohio budget so county protective service agencies, the caregivers of last resort for Ohio’s most vulnerable residents, can help the growing number of children affected by Ohio’s drug epidemic. They provide no new funding to provide adult protective services for the growing
Threats to Medicaid could undermine efforts One of the bright spots in the 2018-2019 Ohio budget is the concerted and coordinated efforts lawmakers made to steer more resources to stem the drug epidemic that has consumed communities across the state. But much of that progress could be undone if lawmakers
A 50-state analysis of the GOP tax framework reveals the richest 1 percent of Ohio taxpayers would get a tax cut with an average value of $56,280 a year in 2018. Most other Ohioans would see modest benefit. Some would pay more. The analysis, done by the Institute for Taxation
New Policy Matters report shows way forward After a long delay, Ohio’s legislative leaders finally appointed members of the state’s new Tax Expenditure Review Committee, but they still have not met to begin reviewing the state’s more than $9 billion in annual tax breaks. A new report from Policy Matters
By Wendy Patton and Zach Schiller Introduction The State of Ohio, like more than two-thirds of the states, reports regularly on tax exemptions, credits and deductions, also known as tax expenditures.[1] But unlike some states, Ohio legislators have not had to review, evaluate and make decisions about these expenditures. This
The Ohio Senate joined the House and overrode six of the Governor’s budget vetoes today. “There was both good and bad news in the Senate votes,” said Wendy Patton, senior project director at Policy Matters Ohio. One of the veto overrides shifts authority in fiscal year 2019 for the release
Wendy Patton: Tax cuts haven’t brought prosperity
The president’s federal tax-overhaul plan, announced Wednesday, lacks detail on many critical points. But we do know that it cuts top income-tax rates by 12 percent on Americans earning more than $418,000, slashes corporate taxes from 35 percent to 20 percent, and eliminates the estate tax. Estimates on how much