Some 36 percent of Ohio taxpayers will not get the full amount of the highly-touted "rebate checks" that will be mailed this summer as a result of the President's just-passed tax bill. That translates into 2.01 million Ohio taxpayers who will not get the full amount of the promised rebate checks. According to a new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ):

• 1.25 million Ohio taxpayers--22 percent-- will get no rebate check at all.
• Another 760,783 Ohio taxpayers--14 percent--will get only partial rebates. In Ohio, those getting only partial rebates will receive, on average, less than half the advertised amounts of $600 for couples, $500 for single parents and $300 for other taxpayers.

The taxpayers who get no or reduced benefits from the tax bill are concentrated in the bottom three-fifths of income earners. Fifty-seven percent of Ohio taxpayers who make less than $40,000 a year will get less than the full rebate amounts, with 37 percent of these taxpayers getting nothing at all.

The tax rebates are supposed to reflect the tax savings from the new 10 percent income-tax bracket on the first $12,000 in taxable income for couples, $10,000 for single parents, and $6,000 for others. Payroll taxes, which are the largest federal tax for three out of four taxpayers, are not counted in computing the rebates.

"Like the rest of the Bush tax plan, the rebates have been carefully designed to give as little as possible to those who need the money, and as much as possible to those who don't," said Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice.

Nationally, 98 percent of married couples earning less than $15,000 will get no rebate and 70 percent of couples earning less than $27,000 will get no rebate. By contrast, rebates will go to 99 percent of the top one percent of taxpayers, earning an average of more than $1.1 million apiece.

“Low and moderate income people in this state will not benefit from the tax cuts,” said Amy Hanauer, Executive Director of Policy Matters Ohio, which released the CTJ study locally.

Full Study

Citizens for Tax Justice, founded in 1979, is a 501 (c)(4) public interest research and advocacy organization focusing on federal, state and local tax policies and their impact on the United States.

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