EARN in Ohio

Ohio Network publications

• Refundable tax credits for working families put kids first

  • November 9, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Hannah Halbert

  Poverty rates in Ohio remain high despite improvements in the job market. There were still 115,000 more Ohioans living in poverty in 2017 than in the year prior to the last recession.Child poverty is exceedingly high. Cleveland has the highest child poverty in the nation — nearly half of all kids. Cincinnati had the third […]

  Economic Development Income

• Breaking barriers: Issue 1 could put Ohioans back to work

  • November 9, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Michael Shields

  The consequences of a criminal conviction extend far beyond the sentence imposed in court. Ohio’s legislature and its administrative bodies have constructed an array of legal restrictions, called collateral sanctions, that can limit access to housing, licensing and jobs. Policy Matters Ohio has found that collateral sanctions limit or bar access to one in four […]

  Criminal Justice Reform Jobs

• Loopholes in a loophole

  • October 31, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Zach Schiller

  Tens of thousands of upper-income Ohioans are qualifying for tax credits that seemingly are limited to those who have much lower incomes. It’s all legal – and it’s probably costing the state millions of dollars a year.

  Taxes

• Ohio Promise: Equitable free college

  • October 8, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Victoria Jackson

  Ohio can make college affordable, significantly increase attainment, and reduce the student debt burden, by enacting a well-targeted, holistic need-based aid program. Policymakers should commit to affordable college by pledging to implement policies to cover the cost of attendance for all moderate-income students at community colleges and public universities. Ohio needs a free-college promise for […]

  Education

• Ohio state and local taxes hit poor and middle-income families the hardest

  • October 7, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Wendy Patton

  Not only does Ohio’s state and local tax system fail to produce enough revenue to properly fund schools, child care, transit and more, it’s upside down. In 2018, low-income Ohioans pay almost twice the share of their income in such taxes as the state’s most affluent do. Ohio ranks 13th worst in the nation in […]

  Taxes

• Tax abatements cost Ohio schools at least $125 million

  • October 2, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Zach Schiller

  Property tax abatements caused 180 school districts across Ohio to forgo $125.6 million in revenue, according to financial reports the districts issued covering the 2017 fiscal year. With $43.8 million, or a little more than a third of that amount, schools across the state could refill the positions of 662 librarians whose positions were eliminated […]

  Education Taxes

• Literature review: Incarceration hurts communities

  • September 28, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Donald Hutcherson, Ph.D., Amy Hanauer

  In Ohio, many people are in prison either for violating probation in ways that are not themselves a crime, or for possessing or using drugs. Keeping them in prison is expensive and drains resources for other needs like education, health care or job training. It is also extremely costly to Ohio families, Ohio communities, and […]

  Criminal Justice Reform

• CEO pay vs. worker pay: Often, a 200-to-1 ratio

  • September 6, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Zach Schiller, Abby Kopp

  For the first time, U.S. companies have reported what their CEOs make compared with typical workers. Data covering 44 of Ohio’s 100 largest employers show that in most cases, CEOs at these companies make more than 200 times what their companies’ typical workers earn in a year.

  Income Wages

• State of working Ohio, 2018: Inequality amid job growth

  • September 2, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Amy Hanauer, Grace Chu

  Ohio is now in the ninth year of a national economic expansion. At the federal level, $2.3 trillion tax cuts should have the economy broiling. But from our lack of wage growth, you wouldn’t know it. What gives?

  State of Working X

• Issue 1: Reducing incarceration, improving communities

  • August 23, 2018
  • Policy Matters Ohio
  • Donald Hutcherson, Ph.D. and Amy Hanauer

  Ohio Issue 1 would reduce incarceration, improve public safety, and free up over a hundred million dollars each year for Ohio to redirect toward treatment and victim services.

  Criminal Justice Reform