Saturday Stats: Issue 1, affordable college, tax abatements and more
Posted October 13, 2018 in eNews
$3.4 billion: The amount Ohio loses in wages each year due to barriers that keep people with previous convictions from getting good jobs. Our latest analysis shows how Issue 1 will remove roadblocks for thousands of Ohioans with low-level drug convictions and help them get back on track.
>1,000: The number of Ohio laws on the books that limit what people with previous convictions can do.
$4,700: That’s how much more the average job with these barriers pays.
Thousands: Ohioans previously convicted of minor drug possession who will have access to better paying jobs if Issue 1 passes this November.
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25: Days left to vote. Some of our staff and their kids have already cast their ballots. Get more information about early voting from your county board of elections.
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$1,304: That’s the amount LESS per student Ohio spends on higher education since 2008. A new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that the state cut spending for public colleges and universities by 18 percent over the last decade.
32 percent, 25 percent, 17 percent: The share of income a typical black, Latinx and white Ohio family would need to spend to pay tuition and fees at Ohio public colleges, respectively. Due to structural barriers to good jobs and building wealth, people of color have lower incomes, and therefore are hit harder by rising higher education costs, according to CBPP.
$57 billion: The total amount of student loan debt held by Ohioans. Catrina Otonoga and Elizabeth Cusma are struggling to pay off their pieces of it. They shared their stories.
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>$125 million: New accounting standards give a better sense of just how much schools are losing to tax giveaways. It’s significant. Some districts are hit harder than others. For example, Cleveland lost more than $34 million and Cincinnati lost more than $18 million.
$43.8 million: That’s about a third of all the losses reported. It’s also enough to refill the positions of 662 school librarians eliminated since 2005.
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$200 billion: The amount of the individual tax cut the Trump Tax plan gives to the wealthiest 20 percent, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Prosperity Now.
3 times: According to the report, white families are three times more likely than Latinx and black families to be among the nation’s top 1 percent earners. As a result, households of color are largely excluded from the Trump tax cuts.
80 percent: The share of the individual tax cuts that goes to white households. On average, white households will receive $2,020 in cuts, while Latinx households will receive $970 and Black households receive $840, according to the report.
$1 trillion: How much the federal deficit will be by the end of the next decade, largely because of these cuts, according to the New York Times.
40 percent: The amount by which programs that help working people will be cut, from Pell Grants, to job training, to health insurance, to environmental protection, all because of these tax cuts that mostly flow to the wealthiest.
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$15: The new minimum wage at Amazon! Workers, advocates, organizers and politicians joined forces to make this happen. We’re proud to have played a small role with analysis that showed how many Ohio Amazon workers need food aid to get by.
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0: Still no winner for Policy Matters Bingo, although we came closer. Just goes to show there’s more work to be done to get the candidates to embrace all our progressive policy ideas!
Coming up:
There are a slew of Issue 1 forums in the next few weeks.
CANTON: Tuesday, October 16, 5:30 p.m. The Canton Area League of Women Voters Issue 1 forum. Plain Community branch, Stark County District Library 1803 Schneider Rd. NW, Canton, OH.
COLUMBUS: Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. Club, the Boat House at Confluence Park 679 W Spring St, Columbus, OH 43215. Sponsored by Hannah News, The Ohio Farm Bureau and the League of Women Voters.
COLUMBUS: Thursday, October 18 from 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Voters Forum on Statewide Ballot Issue 1: Understanding The Issue Through a Gender Lens. The Cliffs Office Building, Atrium, 2323 W. 5th Ave. Columbus, OH 43204. Hosted by The Ohio Women's Public Policy Network - in partnership with The Women's Fund of Central Ohio.
ASHTABULA: Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 6– 8 p.m. NAACP Issue 1 Debate & Public Forum, Ashtabula County District Library, 4335 Park Avenue, Ashtabula, Ohio 44004. Our Executive Director Amy Hanauer will be a featured speaker.
CLEVELAND: Friday, October 26, 10-11:30 a.m. Election 2018: Behavioral Health & Criminal Justice Reform sponsored by Center for Community Solutions Cleveland — Hilton Garden Inn, Carnegie Ave.