We retired Tax Justice Blog in April 2017. For new content on issues related to tax justice, go to www.justtaxesblog.org
For years we’ve been telling you about the various tax cuts that have been signed into law by Ohio governors. Governor Bob Taft (who was elected in 1999) pushed through (among other tax changes) a 21 percent across the board income tax reduction. Those tax cuts were allowed to continue under Governor Ted Strickland. Current Governor John Kasich has pushed through his own series of tax cuts. We’ve written about and crunched numbers on these flawed plans often. Look here,here, here, here and here.
The numbers are certainly compelling. For example, ITEP found that since 2004 the various tax changes signed into law cost the state $3 billion and are currently reducing tax bills for the state’s most affluent 1 percent of taxpayers by more than $20,000 on average, while the bottom three-fifths of state taxpayers as a group are actually paying more taxes now, on average, than they would if these tax changes had not been enacted.
But the purpose of this post isn’t to rehash these dreadful numbers but to urge readers to check out the recent Rolling Stone piece: Where the Tea Party Rules. Here you’ll read about real families living in Lima, Ohio who are just trying to get by. These families put a real face to ITEP’s numbers. (Added bonus: an ITEP analysis is referred to in the piece!)