Policy Matters Ohio
09/26/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/26/2024 09:52
Decades of tax breaks for the wealthiest, poor outcomes for Ohioans
Decades of tax breaks for the wealthiest, poor outcomes for Ohioans
Posted September 26, 2024 in Press Releases
New data show continuing trend
Major tax policy changes enacted by Ohio lawmakers since 2005 require families with the lowest incomes to pay more, the wealthy to pay less, and the state to forgo the resources it needs to ensure the prosperity of its residents. Those are among the findings of a new report from Policy Matters, based on analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-partisan think tank with a sophisticated model of state and local taxes.
Cuts to the state's progressive income tax - the only state tax calculated according to a household's ability to pay - have been partly or entirely offset by increases in other types of taxes. The results include relatively small average cuts (less than 1% of income) for middle-income households; average tax increases for households with annual income under $24,000; and average windfalls of more than $50,000 annually for the 1% of households with incomes over $647,000.
"For nearly two decades, state leaders have been shifting the responsibility for the state budget from the wealthy - those who benefit most from living and doing business in Ohio - to the families with the lowest incomes," said Policy Matters researcher and report author Bailey Williams. "These changes have made our tax code far less effective at generating revenue to pay for schools, roads, eldercare and childcare, health care, addiction treatment, even people to answer phones at the unemployment office. Ohioans are feeling these shortfalls in their everyday lives. It's important to understand what has forced them: tax policy that prioritizes the wealthy over the rest of us."