An Ohio research tank says tax reform might boost family income and budget goals.
On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine will deliver his “State of the State” and present his budget goals to the General Assembly.
With the American Rescue Plan’s one-time investments ending and food and energy prices rising nationwide, plus a state legislature that seems poised to try more anti-abortion measures and has already proposed an overhaul of the state education system, families may struggle to pay rent and utilities as the legislature prioritises other issues.
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“Compared to the nation, children in our state are more likely to go without food and less likely to live in financially stable households,” Policy Matters Ohio researchers said in a recent policy analysis.
The report also links education competency and kindergarten preparedness to a shortage of affordable child care.
Policy Matters compared Ohio to other states on health and wellness, learning and growth, connection and community, and dignity and opportunity, citing DeWine’s State of the State speech last year in which he declared “there is simply no better place to raise a family than Ohio.”
Ohio scored 22nd in public transit commute, 23rd in broadband availability, 3rd in library resources per capita, and 3rd in median wage (24th).
However, child food security (35th), newborn mortality (42nd), opioid overdoses (46th), k-12 funding equity (47th), and child economic security (47th) ranked behind most states (37th).
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“The same old method isn’t working,” the researchers found. Policy Matters revealed that the richest 1% of Ohioans earn more than $50,000 in tax cuts year, based on Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy 2022 income estimates.
The analysis found that 60% of Ohio taxpayers—households income less than $65,000—pay more in taxes today than they did in 2005.
4 in 10 of the state’s most prevalent employment pay “near-poverty” wages, while the Ohio Department of Health found that black infants die 2.5 times as often as white children.
“We all benefit from strong, inclusive public schools, a health care system that offers care for all of us and public institutions and programmes that connect individuals to information and resources to live a decent life,” Policy Matters wrote.
The policy organisation challenged the inclusion of crisis pregnancy centres in the last state budget, which allocated $6 million to the Ohio Parenting and Pregnancy Program to subsidise religious-run institutions that cannot give abortion information.
“Rather than utilising public funds to restrict people’s choice to make their own health decisions, state authorities should commit these monies to programmes that give people the entire range of medical options to deal with and avoid pregnancy,” researchers said.
The think tank suggests adding a family tax credit, digitising the Women, Infants, and Children programme, and increasing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to benefit impoverished families.
The report suggested a 10% refundable Earned Income Tax Credit and increased unemployment compensation eligibility for low-wage workers.
Policy Matters Ohio advocated restoring tax rates to 7.5% for individuals making more than $250,000 and 8.99% for those making more than $1 million in the next budget, which may directly target the personal income tax.
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The business income deduction, sometimes known as the “LLC loophole,” allows limited liability company owners to avoid the first $250,000 in income taxes, according to researchers.
“We can utilise our collective resources to establish the basis of prosperity and opportunity for all our inhabitants, no matter their race, income, gender or ability,” the report concluded.
DeWine will deliver his state of the state address Tuesday at noon.
