Ohio
Policy Matters Ohio: Kasich tax proposal would skew tax system further in favor of Ohio’s affluent
February 10, 2015
The Kasich administration proposal to cut income taxes and expand sales and other taxes would produce big tax cuts for Ohio’s most affluent residents, while increasing taxes on lower- and moderate-income families. The proposal would provide an $11,906 annual tax cut on average to taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income spectrum, who […]
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio’s Tax System Burdens Middle Class and Poor
February 2, 2015
In Ohio the top 1 percent of non-elderly residents by income, who earned at least $356,000 in 2012, pay 7 percent of their income in state and local taxes on average. The lowest fifth, who make less than $18,000, pay 11.7 percent on average. Those in the middle, making between $34,000 and $56,000, pay 10.6 […]
Policy Matters Ohio: Ohio state and local taxes hit poor and middle class the hardest
January 21, 2015
Low- and middle-income Ohioans pay a much greater share of their income in state and local taxes than the state’s most affluent do, according to a study released today. The top 1 percent of non-elderly Ohio families by income, who earned at least $356,000 in 2012, on average pay 7 percent of their income in […]
WYSO: In Ohio, Poor People Pay More Of Their Incomes In Taxes Than Rich People
January 16, 2015
“A national report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Ohio 18th in the country for most imbalanced tax systems. In a “regressive” tax system, low- and middle-income people pay a larger balance of their incomes in state and local taxes than high earners. The study finds very few states with “progressive” tax […]
The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio tax gap among worst
January 16, 2015
“The situation here is worse than in most states, according to the analysis of 2012 income data by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which ranked states based on how state and local taxes affect low- and middle-income families compared with the richest 1 percent. The study, which covered tax changes in the states […]
Portsmouth Daily Times: DeWine warns against HHS taxing
January 15, 2015
“According to a national report, the fifth edition of “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States,” was produced by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and released in Ohio by Policy Matters Ohio. The study’s main finding is that virtually every state and local tax system takes […]
The Columbus Dispatch: Group sees inequality in Ohio’s state, local taxes
January 15, 2015
“In Ohio and across the country, lower-income citizens pay a higher percentage of their income in state taxes than the wealthier do, a new study released yesterday found. The situation here is worse than in most states, according to the analysis of 2012 income data by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which ranked […]
Policy Matters Ohio: Ohio’s Affluent are Big Beneficiaries of 2013-2014 Tax Changes
November 24, 2014
State tax changes approved over the past two years have further tilted Ohio’s tax system in favor of the wealthiest. Read the full report
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Repeal of the State Income Tax Would Harm Ohio on Several Levels
October 28, 2014
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit Washington, D.C., research group with a model of the tax system, reviewed the effects of income tax repeal. It found that if the tax were repealed and just half of it was replaced with a higher sales tax, the top 1 percent of Ohio residents, who […]
Slate: The Kansas Miracle
October 3, 2014
In reality, however, Kansas’ job growth stagnated in 2012 and income growth fell. Far from a stimulus plan, Brownback’s tax cuts were a massive program of redistribution for the rich. According to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the bottom 20 percent of Kansas taxpayers saw their tax burden increase by […]
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Axing Ohio’s Income Tax
October 3, 2014
In 2011, the state of Florida spent $8,887 per-pupil, ranking it 38th among the states, according to a report by Governing magazine based on Census data. Ohio ranked 18th that year, spending $11,223 per pupil. That same report showed that Ohio’s graduation rate for all students was nine percentage points higher than Florida. The rate […]
The Columbus Dispatch: John Kasich, Ed FItzgerald Disagree on Tax Policy
September 22, 2014
An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Policy Matters Ohio, a labor-backed research group, found that when accounting for nearly all tax changes approved in the past two budget bills, about 70 percent of Ohioans will save less than $100 this year. The study found that those with the lowest incomes […]
The Toledo Blade: Unequal and Unbalanced
September 22, 2014
“In Ohio, a separate recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that the state’s tax changes since 2005 are giving the richest 1 percent of taxpayers — those with average annual incomes of more than $1 million — a typical tax cut of $20,000 a year. That’s a greater tax cut, […]
Read the Report in PDF Form The Census Bureau released data in September showing that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high. In 2013, the national poverty rate was 14.5 percent, a slight drop from last years’ rate of 15 percent and the first decline since 2006.1 However, the poverty rate remains 2.0 […]
Beaver County Times: Taxes May Be Biggest Burden Facing Aliquippa
August 28, 2014
By Tom Davidson, The city still bustles with traffic now and then, although most of it’s just passing through town. On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Dwan Walker and City Manager Sam Gill took a drive through Aliquippa, starting at what they call the east end corridor between the Ohio River and Route 51 where the Jones […]
Policy Matters Ohio: Out-of-Step
August 26, 2014
Changes to the Ohio EITC this summer doubled the credit, but poor design choices mean that most low-income working families won’t get the benefit. Read the full report
Akron Beacon Journal: After a decade of tax cuts in Ohio
August 25, 2014
“Zach Schiller of Policy Matters Ohio has assessed the broad impact of the changes, with the help of the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group in Washington. In a report released this week, he found that as a result, the state has experienced a net decrease in revenue of $3 billion a […]
The Toledo Blade: Tax Shift and Shaft
August 20, 2014
By the Editorial Board: Nearly a decade ago, Ohio placed a fateful bet: that big tax cuts, especially for the state’s richest people and corporations, would generate strong job creation, economic growth, and revenue increases. That mostly hasn’t happened. Columbus’ tax-cut scheme — which costs about $3 billion a year — has forced huge reductions […]
Policy Matters Ohio: The Great Ohio Tax Shift
August 18, 2014
Tax overhauls in the past nine years have slashed average tax bills for the top 1 percent by more than $20,000, while the bottom three-fifths pay more as a group. Read the full report
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
August 5, 2014 • By Meg Wiehe
Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2013. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family's income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.
For much of the last century, estate and inheritance taxes have played an important role in helping states to adequately fund public services in a way that improves the progressivity of state tax systems. While many of the taxes levied by state and local governments fall most heavily on low-income families, only the very wealthy pay estate and inheritance taxes. Recent changes in the federal estate tax, however, culminating in the "fiscal cliff " deal of early 2013, have forced states to reevaluate the structure of their estate and inheritance taxes. Unfortunately, the trend of late has tended toward weakening…
Toledo Blade: Comfort the comfortable
July 21, 2014
“According to an analysis done for the progressive advocacy group Policy Matters Ohio by the nonpartisan Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, fully half of this year’s $400 million tax cut will go to the top 5 percent of Ohio taxpayers. Ohio’s 1 percent — those with average annual incomes of more than $1 million […]
Public News Service: Ohio’s Affluent Benefit Most From New Tax Cuts
July 10, 2014
“Cutting the income tax does little for the poorest Ohioans because they don’t have much income-tax liability to begin with, Schiller said. As they review current tax breaks, Schiller said, state leaders should restore and expand funding to local governments, schools, and health and human services, all of which he said would improve communities and […]
Policy Matters Ohio: Cuts and Breaks
July 7, 2014
Most of the $400 million-plus in tax cuts for Fiscal Year 2015 will go the affluent. The Mid-Biennium Review also continues with an unfortunate Ohio tradition of permitting or enlarging tax benefits to special, narrow groups of taxpayers. Read the Full Report
The Plain Dealer: Ohio’s tax cuts favor the affluent, do not create jobs
July 7, 2014
Like other income-tax cuts, the latest batch favors the wealthiest Ohioans. An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research group with a model of the tax system, found that the top 1 percent of Ohioans, who had incomes of at least $360,000 last year, will receive an average tax cut […]
