Analysis and testimony regarding tax policy proposals under consideration for the Ohio budget, fiscal years 2014 and 2015
June 25, 2013
Analysis and testimony regarding tax policy proposals under consideration for the Ohio budget, fiscal years 2014 and 2015
June 25, 2013
New plan would cut taxes $6,000 a year on average for Ohio’s most affluent, June 25, 2013The new tax plan proposed by House and Senate Republicans will reward Ohio’s most affluent with average annual tax cuts of more than $6,000 a year, while low- and moderate-income Ohioans will pay slightly more. Senate budget bill a grab-bag of tax breaks, June 6, 2013The Senate approved a budget bill today that includes a grab-bag of tax breaks, even while it would reduce transparency for existing local tax incentives. The budget moves in the Senate, June 3, 2013An update on House Bill 59 as the Senate introduces its substitute bill and the General Assembly prepares to bring Ohio’s two-year budget into conference committee. Schiller testifies before Senate Finance Committee on HB 59, May 30, 2013This bill does not address the tax issues most important in Ohio right now: to ensure that the state has the revenue it needs for crucial investments in its future, to meet principles of simplicity, and to create a broad tax base. Schiller testifies on proposed income tax cut, business tax exemption, May 21, 2013Neither a personal income tax cut nor a business income tax exemption will help Ohio’s economy. They are bad for low- and moderate-income Ohioans, and slash revenue Ohio needs to support our economic success and improve our quality of life.
Schiller testifies on tax reform, May 1, 2013 The state needs revenue to make essential investments in Ohio’s future. Those who are able to pay should contribute the most. Neither of these things is true now.
Small Investment, Big Difference: Mapping the impact of an Ohio Earned Income Tax Credit, April 10, 2013This interactive map shows how the existing federal Earned Income Tax Credit helps Ohioans and provides estimates of the benefits a state EITC would bring to each Ohio county, at both 10 percent and 20 percent of the federal credit. Rothstein testifies on a state EITC to the House Finance and Appropriations Committee, April 10, 2013An Earned Income Tax Credit not only helps create a more fair tax structure, it provides a boost to local economies, as EITC dollars are often spent and saved locally. This multiplier effect creates local and state tax revenue based on goods and services that are sold. Sales-tax credit would help low-income Ohioans, April 8, 2013Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to broaden the sales tax may not survive, or it could be scaled back. Legislators should consider a sales-tax credit anyway, because the existing sales tax helps slant our current state and local tax system against low- and moderate-income taxpayers. Tax break for business owners won’t help Ohio economy, April 2, 2013Most qualifying taxpayers don’t employ anyone besides themselves, and are unlikely to hire new workers because they get a tax cut; most who own businesses and have employees will get too little in tax savings to add workers. The Tax Flight Myth, March 20, 2013Very few Americans move across state lines each year. Those who do make those moves base their decisions on employment, unemployment, income, housing affordability and higher education opportunity — not taxes. Michael Mazerov testifies on Kasich income tax plan, March 19, 2013Additional income tax cuts will eventually force the state to cut back further on investments in education, infrastructure, and other areas that over the course of history have proven to be the best ways to create jobs and promote prosperity. So the question before Ohio policymakers – as it is for those in other states – is, simply, “Will you risk squandering your economic potential?” Small Investment, Big Difference: How an Ohio EITC would help working families, March 15, 2013A credit set at 20 percent of the federal credit would provide working families with an average of $446 annually. The EITC helps keep families with children above the poverty line, makes work pay, and sends dollars to local communities. Schiller testifies before House Ways & Means subcommittee on HB 59 income-tax plan, March 12, 2013The governor’s proposal to reduce the income tax through a 20 percent rate cut and the exclusion of half of business income from the tax will make the state’s tax system less fair, providing a far larger benefit to upper-income Ohioans than to middle-income or low-income Ohioans. At the same time, these changes are unlikely to produce significant economic gains. Schiller testifies before House Ways & Means subcommittee on HB 59 sales-tax plan, March 7, 2013Lower- and middle-income Ohioans already pay more of their income in state and local taxes than upper-income Ohioans do. While broadening the sales tax is a smart idea, it needs to be accompanied by measures to reduce or eliminate the impact on low- and moderate-income Ohioans. Cutting state personal income taxes won’t help small businesses create jobs, February 19, 2013This report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities challenges the idea that cutting personal taxes is good for small businesses. Among the key findings: Most small business owners are not significant job creators and don’t plan to be. In fact, only 11 percent of taxpayers reporting business income run a company with employees other than the owner. Kasich tax proposal would further tilt tax system in favor of Ohio’s affluent, February 7, 2013Income tax cuts will increase inequality in Ohio and do little for our economy. The Kasich administration proposal to broaden the sales tax base, if done carefully, is helpful because our economy has shifted to services, many of which have been untaxed. However, this will disproportionately affect low- and middle-income Ohioans, so steps should be taken to offset that. Ohio’s state and local taxes hit poor and middle class much harder than wealthy, January 30, 2013Low- 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 this analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, released in Ohio by Policy Matters.
Schiller testifies on the Municipal Income Tax, May 1, 2013
A major effort to overhaul Ohio’s municipal income tax should reduce tax avoidance, guarantee a broad tax base, and ensure that those most able to pay are in fact doing so. Unfortunately, House Bill 5 does none of the above.
Income-tax cut would favor affluent Ohioans, April 22, 2013
The top 1 percent of Ohio earners would receive an average reduction in taxes of $2,717 a year. The middle fifth of Ohio residents would get an average of $51. Those in the bottom fifth would see an average reduction of $3.
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