Rich getting richer, poor getting poorer in Ohio

The 2005 income tax cuts severely impacted Ohio's budget and provided very little benefit to most Ohioans. The tax cuts have resulted in job losses, eliminations and reductions of programs and services, and major problems for many Ohio counties, particularly the Appalachian counties. For more information on how the tax cuts have hurt Ohio, including figures for all of the Ohio House and Senate districts that include the Appalachian counties, click here. For contact information for how to contact Athens County's state senator and state representative, click here. For information on how to contact all of the state senators in Ohio, click here. For information on how to contact all of the state representatives in Ohio, click here.

State budget proposal would take more than $2 million in funding away from programs to help Athens County residents living in poverty

• The current budget proposal from Governor John Kasich calls for a cut in funding of more than $2 million for Athens County Job and Family Services. This loss of funding is spread across several of our agency’s programs and will severely impact our programs and services.

In tough budget times, state leaders need to ask everyone to sacrifice, not just select groups of people

While state leaders have proclaimed loudly over the last few years that they don’t want to raise taxes on all Ohio residents, in reality they have been raising taxes on select groups of individuals such as public employees, people living in poverty, those with legal problems and those with health problems.

Tax cuts only helped the rich, need to be rolled back

The 2005 income tax reductions reduced the state income tax by 21%, costing the state more than $2 billion per year. While state leaders argued that the tax cuts would help economic development and put more money in the pockets of state residents, the state’s economy has only faltered since the tax cuts were put in place and the average state resident has seen very little benefit from the cuts.

The impact of income tax reductions on the state's budget deficit

While Ohio leaders debate where to cut funding in order to balance the state budget, it is important to remember that a large part of the budget deficit was caused by the state’s income tax reductions. These tax cuts overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Ohioans more than any other group of state residents.
Athens County Job and Family Services recently looked at how each county in Ohio is affected by tax cuts, social services, government jobs and other factors.
Click here to read the press release about the report.
Click here to view the research information for each county in Ohio.
Click here to view federal tax information for each county in Ohio.
Click here for a page with downloadable Excel files with the information for each county in the state.

Tax cuts have hurt Ohio residents

Athens County Job and Family Services Director Jack Frech wrote a letter to the editor recently discussing the state budget situation, the 2005 income tax reductions and Senate Bill 5. Click here to read a copy of the letter as published in The Athens NEWS.