Tax cut for wealthy would not help Ohio
Joree Novotny and Katherine Ungar Guest columnists
Stories of ninth graders hosting fundraisers to pay off student lunch debt aren’t heartwarming – they’re gut-wrenching.
When all K-12 students throughout Ohio had access to healthy school meals at no cost during the pandemic, parents didn’t have to worry about coming up with the resources to pay for breakfast and lunch for their kids throughout the week.
Household budgets stretched further, nutrition coordinators and school cafeteria workers didn’t have to deny children food, and students from households with low incomes experienced less stigma. Since families have had to return to paying for meals, school nutrition service providers are alarmed by the high amounts of school meal debt they are seeing in their districts.
When Ohio families received advance, expanded Child Tax Credit payments in the second half of 2021, credit card debt plummeted and savings increased.
Since those Child Tax Credit payments ended in 2022, credit card debt has skyrocketed past prepandemic levels. Household savings have fallen, while corporate profit has grown.
While Ohioans with low incomes were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Emergency Allotments, child poverty rates fell by 14 percent.
Older Ohioans reported improved mental health and greater ability to afford the healthy diets they want and need to effectively manage their chronic conditions and live and age with dignity.
Beginning this month, nearly 1.5 million Ohioans will lose an average of $86 per person, per month in SNAP Emergency Allotments, with benefits dropping much more significantly for older Ohioans, disabled Ohioans and working families with children.
That’s a lot of bad news. But here’s the good news: It would cost less than $2 per child per day to provide free school meals to all students in Ohio.
It would cost just $21 million per year in the next state biennium to bring every older Ohioan participating in SNAP up to a minimum benefit of $50 per month. And Ohio could pay for a refundable thriving families tax credit for every Ohio family with income under $85,000 just by closing the LLC loophole.
More good news: Ohioans agree that these proposals are right for Ohio. More than 8 in 10 Ohio parents and caregivers agree that school meals should be provided at no cost to all students. Recent surveys demonstrate clear public support across the political spectrum for SNAP expansions. And 77 percent of Ohio voters support a state-level thriving families tax credit.
As Ohio strives to attract and retain next-generation employers and workers, it needs sustainable revenue to provide quality education, maintain basic services we all count on, and support working families with children, family caregivers, the direct care workforce, and Ohio’s aging population. Instead of moving forward with Ohio House Bill 1, which would provide permanent and significant tax cuts to very high income households, Ohio should focus on all of the broadly popular and impactful investments it can make in kids, families, seniors, and communities. As anti-poverty, anti-hunger advocates, we urge Ohio lawmakers to walk away from House Bill 1 and focus on investing in priorities like free school meals, nutrition assistance for seniors, family tax credits and other strategies for promoting dignity and economic security for all Ohioans.
Joree Novotny is chief of staff of Ohio Association of Foodbanks. Katherine Ungar is senior policy associate at Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio.
As Ohio strives to attract and retain next-generation employers and workers, it needs sustainable revenue to provide quality education, maintain basic services we all count on, and support working families.