By Zach SchillerFriday, June 26, 2009 Cleveland Plain Dealer Four years ago, the Ohio General Assembly ap proved the biggest overhaul of Ohio’s tax system in a generation. The income tax and business taxes were slashed in overall tax cuts worth more than $2 billion a year. The idea was
Ohio’s tax expenditure report examines credits, deductions and exemptions in the tax code that reduce the amount of revenue the state would otherwise receive. This year’s report, prepared by the Ohio Department of Taxation, estimated that in both Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, 122 such exemptions and credits amounted to
Testimony of Zach Schiller on House Bill 1 Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee Hearing May 21, 200 Nearly four years ago, the General Assembly approved House Bill 66, including the biggest overhaul of Ohio’s tax system in a generation. The tax changes, including the 21 percent cut in the
The Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which provides income support and retraining to workers who lose their jobs due to rising imports or shifts in production overseas, is undergoing a major expansion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Effective May 18, 2009, workers in service industries are now covered for
Wal-Mart has paid the State of Ohio back $1.7 million for a tax incentive on an eyeglass plant that the retailer is now shutting down. The action underlines the usefulness of “clawbacks” of this kind that require companies to make good on the promises they make in winning state incentives
Testimony of Zach Schiller on House Bill 1 House Finance and Appropriations Committee Hearing March 25, 2009 Good morning Chairman Sykes, Ranking Member Amstutz and members of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee. I am Zach Schiller, research director of Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research institute with offices in
In mid-February of 2009, Policy Matters Ohio briefed a number of Ohio’s state legislators and their staff on Ohio’s economy, the 2005 tax reform, and our state budget situation. Since Ohio’s 2005 tax reform package was enacted, Ohio lost ground compared to the rest of the nation in employment, GDP
The Ohio General Assembly in 2005 approved an overhaul of the state’s tax system. The law phases out two of the most significant taxes on business: The Corporate Franchise Tax on nonfinancial companies, which is the state’s corporate income tax, and the Tangible Personal Property tax, a local tax imposed
Seventy-five county sheriff departments that responded to our biennial survey reported putting 68,974 foreclosed properties up for sale last year. The number of such properties grew substantially again in 2007. In the 72 counties that provided data to Policy Matters Ohio for each of the last two years, the number
Ohio gives special tax treatment to payday lenders and mortgage brokers ??” they pay a lower state tax rate than banks under an outmoded tax unique to Ohio. Lobbyists and debt collectors don’t have to bill their clients for sales tax. The state recently made it much easier for high-income
During the next year, Ohio’s unemployment compensation system is likely to borrow from the federal government in order to pay benefits to jobless workers. This backgrounder explores why the UC system is in such poor financial shape and makes recommendation on what should be done. It finds that the system
Ohio’s foreclosure crisis continued to worsen in 2007 with another 6.7 percent increase in filings from the year before, according to the annual study issued by Policy Matters Ohio. Overall, there were 84,751 new foreclosure filings in 2007, up from 79,435 in 2006. The study includes filings in state courts
