Share This!

News: 40% of Ohio School Grads not College Ready, Dayton Daily News
Notes: Ohio needs accountability and ways to measure our success. We need to seek how we can improve this type of statistic. A single testing scheme is not the answer. Instead Ohio should invest in a holistic approach including universal preschool access, additional tutors and specialists in the classroom, extra course offerings, and restoration of extra-curricular activities such as band and art programs. Ohio’s leaders should set a realistic and ambitious goal to decrease this number and invest the resources needed to build up strong communities. 

News: Troubled Waters, Columbus Dispatch
Notes:The recent water contamination in West Virginia should lead Ohio’s leaders to ask how we can prevent similar harms here. With the increase fracking activity in Ohio, we need appropriate government regulations and resources for prevention, remedying, and improving our communities in the event of a tragedy. HB 375 – a proposed severance tax increase – currently doesn’t account for long term impacts and doesn’t generate enough revenue to invest for the long term security of impacted communities. The Ohio House Ways & Means Committee should amend this legislation to generate enough revenue to oversee the proper regulation of the industry and long term impacts of drilling activity. 

Share This!

 News: Credit Opportunity, Akron Beacon Journal
Notes: Ohio is one of 26 states with a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), but ours is one of the weakest in the nation. Ohio has an opportunity in the Mid-Biennium Review (MBR) to expand the EITC to serve those who it is intended to serve and make it more effective. We encourage the Governor to expand this tax credit to help an additional half million Ohioans. 

News: Ohio House planning Changes to Fracking-Tax Bill, Columbus Dispatch
Notes: Close to 20 witnesses testified yesterday that they would like to see public investment from an increased severance tax on fracking in Ohio. Many witnesses testified that they would like to see dollars invested into local governments impacted by drilling, long-term economic development plans made, and environmental concerns addressed. Liberals and conservatives testified that state public investments are needed in Appalachia as a part of the oil and gas fracking boom begins. 

News: Ohio House Adopts $1.875 billion bond renewal for May Ballot, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Notes: The chorus of public officials calling on more public investment continues to grow. The bond package is a small increase over current bond-financed investments.  These bonds will help improve public lands, create jobs, and improve the quality of lives for Ohioans. We hope that the officials who are supportive of these bonds will also be supportive of financing other state investments into education, healthcare, public safety, and strong communities. 

Share This!

News: Dem Introduces Severance Tax Bill, Says State Being ‘Bamboozled’ by Oil, Gas Industry, Hannah Report
Notes: Ohio has battling severance tax proposals. HB 375 would create a rate of 1% (followed by a temporary 2% rate) on horizontal drillers.  It would also cut vertical well rates in half, and create new exemptions and tax credits. Money would be allocated towards well regulation, capping orphan wells, and an income tax cut. HB 212 would create a rate of 7.5% – the same rate as Texas – and designate the revenue for local governments, environmental regulations, and a long term economic development fund. 

News: Liberty Trustees to discuss Road Tax, Youngstown Vindicator
Notes:  The state of Ohio continues to cut resources for local government. The 2013 tax cuts were funded primarily by making these cuts permanent and by raising Ohio’s sales tax.  Regressive taxes (like sales and property)  shift the tax load from the wealthy to low and middle income individuals. Ohioans are seeing a tax shift, not tax cuts. 

News: The widening gap between rich and poor, Cincinnati Enquirer
Notes: Americans continue to notice that the rich are getting richer and everyone else continues to struggle to get by. Through public investments, we can invest in educational opportunities, public safety, and enhance the quality of life for all Ohioans. These investments will help reduce the income inequality by giving more opportunities those in poverty and the middle class and and increase the quality of life in our communities. 

News: Ohio urges small businesses to seek a tax cut, Cincinnati Enquirer
Notes: This business tax cut was a part of HB 59- the Ohio budget – passed in June 2013.  The stated purpose of this 50% tax cut was to encourage job creation. Many of us remain skeptical of this claim. Most people who benefit from this will be individuals who have a business, but claim their business income as personal income – such as lawyers or accountants. These individuals are not likely to turn their savings into hiring new employees. Investments into schools, public safety, and social services would create jobs, improve our economy, and helped improve the quality of life for Ohioans. 

Share This!

News: GOP Lawmakers want county money from drilling tax, Akron Beacon Journal
Notes: A growing chorus of state leaders from both political parties recognize that we should invest revenue from an increased severance tax into local communities. If Ohio looked to other states, we would see that many have established both short and long-term plans to invest the revenue to maintain infrastructure, improve the community, and prepare for the future economic reality of boom & bust markets that are common in Eastern Ohio.  

Share This!

News: Drilling-tax proposal’s effects on state revenue are unclear, tax commissioner says. Columbus Dispatch
Notes: Tax Commissioner Joe Testa agrees with the Legislative Services Commission that we cannot accurately predict new revenues from HB 375 – the severance tax proposal, because many factors and variables remain unclear. While the revenue side remains unclear, Policy Matters Ohio estimates that, as a result of tax credits and new exemptions, the state could lose about $800 million from the General Revenue Fund over the next 10 years. Supporters of the legislation do not dispute this estimate. 

News: Failure To Launch, Columbus Dispatch
Notes: Ohio’s public schools have lost billions of dollars as a result of tax changes in 2005 and promises from the state not kept. In addition to these losses, local school districts are required by state law to transfer resources to charter schools. We need to invest in great public schools and not re-allocate resources to fund failed profit-making charter schools that last less than 3 months. 

News: How Can We Balance the National Budget, Cincinnati Enquirer
Notes: Budget and tax policy in Ohio in interconnected with local and national budget and tax policy as well. Recently, Ohio policymakers backed an idea for a federal constitutional amendment requiring a national balanced budget. This guest columnist agrees that balanced budgets are preferable, but asks whether or not Ohio taxpayers and policymakers would want to see dramatic cuts to public services, national security, and other programs or see their taxes go up. 

Share This!

News: Employment Count, Akron Beacon Journal 
Notes: A Chinese corporation announced that they will build a new factory in Dayton and hope to hire 800 people to work there. However, the Akron Beacon Journal points out that Ohio lost 12,000 jobs in November alone. The tax cut philosophy has not delivered the promised jobs as Ohio ranks 38th in job growth. 

News: Sales Taxes hurt the Poor, Speakers Say, Youngstown Vindicator
Notes: Mahoning County is debating whether or not to raise the county sales tax to fund public services. They are dealing with repeated cuts of state support for local government services and continue to scramble to find revenue, and can only raise revenue through regressive taxes such as sales or property. Local advocates are concerned that low income people are paying more than their fair share in Ohio, while the wealthiest Ohioans are not. Restoring local government funds at the state level would be a step in the direction of fair tax system for local communities.

News: Slip in Casino Revenue worries local officials, Columbus Dispatch
Notes: When Ohio voters approved casinos, the goal was to use the new revenue for new projects. However, after massive cuts to local government spending and education, many communities want to use the casino revenue to fill budget holes. However, casino revenue continues to come in far short of original expectations and previous totals. 

Share This!

News: Senate Leaders Look ahead to 2014. NPR Statehouse News Bureau
Notes: Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni (D- Boardman) wants to see more state investment in schools, specific industries, training and communities. He highlights that potential revenue from an increased severance tax on oil and natural gas drillers as the revenue source. Senate President Keith Faber (R- Celina) highlights a desire for more income tax rate cuts with the continued belief that this will create jobs. 

News: Taxes, Construction, election changes await state lawmakers, Dayton Daily News (Premium Content)
Notes: Legislators will address a few notable pieces of budget-related legislation over the next few months -including a slight increase in Ohio’s Capital Budget spending, a proposal to increase state debt amounts, and a mid-biennium review (MBR) of the current state operating budget. Likely the MBR will include proposals to cut Ohio’s income tax rates further – primarily benefiting the wealthiest Ohioans. The legislator officially returns this week for general sessions. 

News: Panel might not give tax estimate, Columbus Dispatch
News: The Ohio Legislative Services Commission drafts non-partisan summaries of legislation introduced. They also include a ‘fiscal note’ that highlights all the budgetary impacts of the legislation. With HB 375, the LSC cannot make an educated guess on how much revenue the bill will produce for the newly created accounts to fund regulatory costs and capping orphan wells in Ohio. They were able to estimate that the new tax credits and exemptions will cost the state over $8.5 million from the states general operating funds. 

Share This!

News: Fracking Officials Support GOP plan to Revamp taxes, Youngstown Vindicator

News: State Fracking Revenue May Not Bring Tax-Cut Gusher, Columbus Dispatch

News: Industry Lobbyist Pushes Revised Ohio Drilling Tax, Dayton Daily News

News: Ohio oil and gas group oppose higher tax, Toledo Blade

Notes:  According to the Ohio Legislative Services Commission, the industry-backed tax proposal on oil and gas drilling will not produce substantial revenues for the state. As a result of new tax credits and other changes, this bill will cut resources for Ohio’s general revenue fund.  Ohio needs oil and gas corporations to pay their fair share for the right to drill in Ohio, and we need to reinvest these resources into great public services that lead to stronger communities.