Saturday Stats
Posted February 24, 2024 in eNews
$200M: Amount of tax revenue expected from legal sales of recreational cannabis in the first year after Ohioans passed Issue 2. As written — and as approved by voters — the law would use those funds to benefit communities where dispensaries are located, fund substance-abuse research, and remediate some of the harm done by the failed war on drugs. But the legislature has other (worse) plans. In his latest blog, Tax Policy Researcher Bailey Williams explains how the policy voters supported could be highjacked by unaccountable legislators.
$7.5B: The maximum estimated revenue that Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb says would be generated by his proposed "Shore-to-Core-to-Shore" Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan. The TIF would take all the growth in property tax revenue over the next 30 years from downtown Cleveland and part of the near West Side, and divert it to a fund for public infrastructure, parks, and recreation centers across the city. Don’t get us wrong: We love infrastructure, parks, and rec centers. But some of that funding is meant for county human services, the Cleveland Public Library and Cuyahoga Community College; the TIF could cut into their revenue. In a recent op-ed for Cleveland.com, Research Director Zach Schiller raises serious concerns for City Council to consider.
40%-45%: Share of state revenue that comes from the personal income tax and the Commercial Activity Tax. Anti-government extremists in the legislature want to eliminate both. In the most delightfully frank assessment of the week, Bailey Williams told WCPO Cincinnati’s Jessica Hart in no uncertain terms:
14: Number of books written by hall-of-fame education leader Diane Ravitch. She also runs a prominent blog about education and democracy, which as of this writing has racked up 40 million hits. In other words, she writes a lot, and a lot of people read what she writes. But earlier this month, she put the words of Youth, Opportunity and Education Researcher Tanisha Pruitt, PhD. front and center. Ravitch’s February 12 post reproduced — verbatim, charts and all — a lengthy section of Dr. Pruitt’s report, Funding Ohio’s Future. It’s a testament to Tanisha’s work that such a prominent voice in the fight against vouchers would simply hand the mic to her.
Action Items
Check out the Season 2 premiere of What's Good Ohio?!, our podcast with our friends at Ohio Voice! Episode 1: What's Good With Redistricting, is out now!
Consider who benefits and who pays for school vouchers in Ohio. Register here for Ohio Public Education: The Voucher Explosion Affects All of Us, a webinar presented by the League of Women Voters. Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7:00 PM.
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