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MVOC summit addresses Ohio budget
Ohio has never fully recovered from the 2001 recession.
A 2005 tax overhaul, phased in for five years, saw the Ohio General Assembly approve a
21 percent reduction in state income taxes and eliminate two major business taxes as well as the tax on corporate profits.
The reduction is costing the state about $2.1 billion in
annual net revenue and largely
favors businesses and wealthy families.
Roughly 40 percent of gains go to the top 5 percent of income earners.
The state has lost an estimated 373,000 jobs, including about one-fourth of manufacturing jobs, since June 2005.
Ohio is one of six states with no general tax on corporate profits.
Each year, the state allows more than $7 billion in exemptions, credits and deductions with no process to re-examine such special favors.
The 2005 overhaul deprived the state of needed resources for public services.
Sources: Policy Matters Ohio, Ohio Department of Taxation
By Sean Barron
NILES
Few would argue that the state shouldn’t work toward erasing a projected $8 billion budget shortfall, but it must not be done on the backs of poor and working-class people, representatives of a diverse list of local and regional agencies say.
That was a main theme of Thursday’s Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative summit, which looked at what can be done to ensure Ohio’s budget shortfall is addressed in equitable ways that preserve vital services.
MVOC is a community organizing effort dedicated to improving the quality of life in the region by creating and supporting healthy neighborhoods in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, its mission statement says.
An estimated 150 people from a variety of nonprofit and social-service agencies, faith-based organizations, neighborhood and labor groups, and elected officials attended the program at Vernon’s Caf , 720 Youngstown-Warren Road, to explore approaches for closing the budget gap that preserve revenue to protect vital services.
Contrary to that goal, proposals by Gov. John Kasich include making across-the-board cuts without increasing revenue and selling infrastructure such as the Ohio Turnpike and state parks, said Kirk Noden, MVOC’s executive director.
Instead of creating jobs, such cuts would place added burdens on poor and middle-class people, Noden said, adding that Ohio faces a revenue, not a budget, crisis. The difficult economy would compound the inevitable hardships, he said.
MVOC wants to unite a diverse cross-section of the Valley to fight to preserve critical services; advocate for a balanced approach to budget challenges that include revenue; close certain tax loopholes; balance corporate and individual taxes; and re-examine a 2005 state-income-tax overhaul, Noden explained.
Speakers discussed how they feel the proposed cuts would adversely affect families, children, neighborhoods, transportation and other areas.
About one in six Ohioans seeks assistance from food pantries, and the cuts would further devastate struggling families, noted the Rev. Solomon Hill, pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church in Youngstown.
“Something is wrong here,” he said, adding that many children go to school hungry because of their parents’ hardships.
Revenue reductions also would have a negative impact on firefighters, police officers and other safety forces, the Rev. Mr. Hill predicted.
In addition, state funding cuts will hurt public employees by making it more difficult to help those they serve, and could cost the employees their jobs, said Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning/Trumbull Central Labor Council and an MVOC board member.
“If these cuts go through, we’re going to see devastating effects throughout the state,” Padisak warned.
Also hurt will be affordable public transportation in Trumbull County, which is struggling to keep up with those costs, said Janet Hazlett, president of the Northeast Warren Neighborhood Association.
Even people whose medical and other needs are covered but who rely on bus service would have greater difficulty getting to where they need to be, Hazlett said.
Tough economic times and an increased demand for assistance have drained many churches of funds to help those in need. At the same time, a greater number of people are seeking help to pay utility bills, noted Charlene W. Allen, executive director of the Warren-based Alliance Community Outreach Program.
State budget cuts also could hurt the Percentage of Income Payment Plan, set up through the Home Energy Assistance Program, Allen explained. PIPP requires regulated gas and electric companies to accept payments based on a percentage of household income.
Elected officials who urged the audience to protest the cuts and organize with one another were state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Canfield, D-33rd; and state Reps. Sean O’Brien, D-65th; Ron Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th; Robert Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th; and Tom Letson of Warren, D-64th.
A March 22 bus trip to Columbus is set for that purpose.