Sales-tax Credit Would Help Low-income Ohioans

Gov. John Kasich has proposed major changes in Ohio's tax system, including broadening the sales tax to cover most services and cutting the state rate from 5.5 percent to 5 percent. This would produce significant needed revenue and make the sales tax more viable long-term, since more and more of the Ohio economy is based on services. The problem: Low- and moderate income Ohioans would be most affected, as they would pay the most as a share of their income.Key FindingsA state sales-tax credit, styled on one in New Mexico, would benefit hundreds of thousands of Ohioans.A sales-tax credit would provide a targeted way to offset the regressivity of the existing sales tax.Together with a state Earned Income Tax Credit, it could protect nearly two-thirds of the lowest-income Ohioans from the effects of Gov. Kasich's plan to broaden the sales tax

Tax Break for Business Owners Won't Help Ohio Economy

The Kasich administration has proposed a major new income tax break for owners of Ohio businesses. These include a variety of different kinds of businesses -- S Corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and sole proprietorships -- that have one thing in common: Ohio does not tax the businesses directly on their profits, but rather as the profit passes through to the individual income tax returns of the owners. Hence, they are called "passthrough entities."This new tax break is unlikely to generate new jobs. A recent study by Michael Mazerov of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that state income-tax cuts won't help small businesses create jobs.1 This brief, which should be read together with the Mazerov study, provides Ohio data relevant to the Kasich proposal

Ohio Needs a Strong Income Tax

Provides an overview of state and local taxes and tax credits; their progressiveness; and their benefits, including funding services such as public libraries and police and fire protection and lowering property taxes

Municipal Income Tax "Fix" is a Flub: Legislators should cut tax avoidance, not invite it

A major rewrite of the state law governing Ohio municipal income tax is being discussed in Columbus. A proposal to overhaul the tax -- House Bill 601 -- was introduced late last year, and the General Assembly will see a revised version afterit convenes this month. A significant effort to overhaul Ohio's municipal income tax should crack down on tax avoidance, guarantee a broad tax base, and ensure that those most able to pay are in fact doing so. In some instances, however, House Bill 601 allows tax avoidance to continue, or even creates new avenues to avoid the tax. When this issue is taken up in the next General Assembly, this should be corrected

Bank Tax Cuts Loopholes, Reduces Rates: Proposal Also Provides Unneeded Help to Big Banks

Outlines how the Financial Institutions Tax, designed to close loopholes in the corporate franchise tax and lower rates for banks, would affect state revenues. Calls for maintaining rates, addressing the foreclosure crisis, and restoring services

Unemployment Compensation in Ohio: Already weak Coverage is Threatened

For years, relatively fewer unemployed Ohioans have qualified for unemployment compensation than their counterparts in other states. Ohio's tough earnings standard and disqualification of jobless workers who would be eligible for benefits elsewhere contribute to this dismal record. For instance, most states allow part-time workers who lose their jobs to seek similar part-time work and qualify for benefits, assuming they have earned enough and meet the other criteria. Ohio does not. Ohio's current requirement that workers average at least $222 a week for at least 20 weeks over a year's time is among the most stringent in the country.1 For instance, it disqualifies those earning this year's minimum wage of$7.70 an hour and working 28 hours a week. A retail employee who has worked for years at such a job would be left without benefits if she or he was laid off

No Windfall: Casino Taxes Won't Make Up Cuts to Local Governments

The opening of casinos in Cleveland and Toledo and the "racino" at Scioto Downs in Columbus means, among manyother things, additional tax revenue. A third casino is scheduled to open in Columbus on Oct. 8, with a fourth tofollow in Cincinnati next spring. This brief reviews tax revenue that may be produced by casinos, and how that compares with state cuts to schools and local governments. Any new revenue is a welcome addition to strained local budgets. However, casino revenue makes up only a fraction of the cuts that local governments recently sustained because of slashed revenue from the state and the impending end ofthe estate tax

The Design and Manufacturing of the Solar Furnace Reactor Table

The James S. Markiewicz Solar Energy Research Facility at Valparaiso University will concentrate energy from the sun into a reactor containing unprocessed materials. The concentrated light causes a reaction to occur, turning unprocessed materials into alternative energy products. Accurate placement of the reactor at the focal point of the concentrator is necessary to allow the maximum amount of solar energy to enter the reactor. The Reactor Table was designed and built by Valparaiso University students and faculty. The table controls the placement of the reactor at the focal point of the concentrator quickly and easily by using a computer located in the safety of the Control Room. The operator can control the X, Y, and Z directions of the table to achieve the optimal placement of the reactor with an accuracy of ±0.5 mm

VU Solar Furnace: Final Design and Construction of Louver System

Solar energy is an environmentally clean and abundant alternative to the use of fossil fuels. One method of harnessing solar energy, solar thermal electrochemistry, uses a solar furnace to concentrate sunlight and heat a reactor to temperatures around 2000 K. At such high temperatures, metallic oxides can be decomposed into metals and oxygen with minimal electrical work. The solar furnace used for this process consists of a heliostat, which tracks the sun; a concentrator, which focuses the light to a single point; and a reactor in which the chemical reaction takes place. To control the amount of sunlight entering the system, and thus the final temperature in the reactor, a louver system is placed between the heliostat and concentrator. This research project focuses on the final design and construction of the louvers

RED SUPERGIANTS AS COSMIC ABUNDANCE PROBES: THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS

Red Supergiants (RSGs) are cool (∼ 4000K), highly luminous stars (L ∼ 105L⊙), and are among the brightest near-infrared (NIR) sources in star-forming galaxies. This makes them powerful probes of the properties of their host galaxies, such as kinematics and chemical abundances. We have developed a technique whereby metallicities of RSGs may be extracted from a narrow spectral window around 1μm from only moderate resolution data. The method is therefore extremely efficient, allowing stars at large distances to be studied, and so has tremendous potential for extragalactic abundance work. Here, we present an abundance study of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC respectively) using samples of 9-10 RSGs in each. We find average abundances for the two galaxies of [Z]LMC = −0.37±0.14 and [Z]SMC = −0.53±0.16 (with respect to a Solar metallicity of Z⊙=0.012). These values are consistent with other studies of young stars in these galaxies, and though our result for the SMC may appear high it is consistent with recent studies of hot stars which find 0.5-0.8dex below Solar. Our best-fit temperatures are on the whole consistent with those from fits to the optical-infrared spectral energy distributions, which is remarkable considering the narrow spectral range being studied. Combined with our recent study of RSGs in the Galactic cluster Per OB1, these results indicate that this technique performs well over a range of metallicities, paving the way for forthcoming studies of more distant galaxies beyond the Local Group