How should your state tax you? Western Reserve — the 51st state
Graduated personal income tax is crucial Zach SchillerResearch directorPolicy Matters Ohio Two principles are most important for a tax system: We need to raise enough revenue for strong public services like education, health care and infrastructure and we need to do it fairly. Neither of these principles has been followed closely with our current state […]
The sad truth about the House health care bill
This afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a disastrous health care bill. While it still has to make its way through the Senate, in its current form the bill would have devastating consequences for Ohioans’ health and health care coverage. Under the bill: The following is a list of Ohio’s U.S. Representatives who […]
Portman needs to stand up for users of prepaid cards
Kalitha Williams is a policy liaison for Policy Matters Ohio. Imagine not being able to pay bills or make important purchases because you cannot access your money. That’s what happened to RushCard customers in 2015. The RushCard is a prepaid debit card issued by UniRush LLC, based in Cincinnati. For nearly two weeks, its customers […]
Protect our care! New bill puts healthcare of millions at risk
Update: On April 27, House Republicans decided to delay this vote after the margins were proving too close to guarantee the bill’s passage. Keeping pressure on your representatives to is of huge importance moving forward. In a race to score a legislative victory before he completes his first 100 days in office this Saturday, President […]
Letter: Consumer bureau provides invaluable service
The Monday Dispatch article “Cordray, his bureau surviving GOP blasts,” on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, focused too heavily on vitriolic complaints from the financial-services industry and not enough on how the agency protects and defends consumers. Ohioans turn to the bureau to help resolve disputes with big financial institutions they may not be able […]
Governor John Kasich’s budget shortchanges local schools: Victoria Jackson (Opinion)
Guest columnist Victoria W. Jackson is the state policy fellow for Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit policy research organization working to broaden the debate about economic policy in Ohio. For the past 10 years, state policy makers have shortchanged Ohio’s public school students. Tax cuts that mostly favor the wealthy have starved Ohio’s public schools. […]
Column: Health reform has helped many Ohioans
Thanks to Medicaid expansion, many Ohio families became healthier and better off financially over the past six years. If Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and restructures Medicaid, this progress could abruptly halt. In Ohio, many jobs pay poorly. For workers who don’t get health insurance through their job and are paid too little […]
Amy Hanauer: What good is an anti-labor secretary?
Many native Ohioans would make phenomenal top labor law enforcers for the United States. Andy Puzder is not one of them. The Cleveland-born Puzder, nominated by President Donald Trump to run the Department of Labor, better qualifies as top labor law violator. Ohio senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown should vote against his appointment. As […]
State income tax cuts: A view from Ohio
Policy Matters Research Director Zach Schiller’s article in Bloomberg BNA, Sept. 16, 2016: No evidence that lower taxes bring economic prosperity. From Nebraska to Georgia, debate has raged over whether to cut state income taxes. Ohio’s income tax, the second-largest source of state revenue and the only major tax based on the ability to pay, […]
Policy Matters op-ed: ‘Healthy Ohio’ plan is anything but
The Ohio Legislature’s “Healthy Ohio” plan would hurt people who get their health care through Medicaid, and also endanger the financial stability of hospitals, Senior Project Director Wendy Patton said in a Cincinnati Enquirer op-ed. The plan would impose premiums and caps on coverage for Ohioans who are struggling to make ends meet. If the […]
Patton op-ed: Ohio won’t get ahead by standing still
Op-ed in The Toledo Blade calls for Ohio to invest in public services. Ohio’s lack of investment in public services has left us running in place for 10 years, Senior Project Director Wendy Patton writes in The Toledo Blade. Accounting for inflation, state spending through 2017 is at a lower level than it was a […]
Schiller: Unemployment benefit cuts solve nothing
A bill in the Ohio House of Representatives would substantially cut unemployment benefits to jobless Ohioans and make it harder to qualify. Yet paradoxically, while these harsh steps are aimed at making our unemployment trust fund financially solid, the bill doesn’t come close to even meeting its own solvency target. Instead, it transfers most of […]