NewsLink V2N3 Spring 1998: From the Executive Director

Recently, Massachusetts acting Governor A. Paul Cellucci fired members of his hand-picked MassJobs Council because they recommended softening the state's welfare reform law to include more job training for hard-core welfare recipients. The firings have caused a firestorm not only because they come in the heat of a gubernatorial campaign but because they raise philosophical issues about how tough welfare requirements should be.

The council would like to count education and job training toward a recipient's work requirement. Governor Cellucci, however, believes that enrollment in a job training program is no match for "on-the-job" training.

That may be so in many cases, especially in a robust economy in which abundant jobs create a "buyer's market." But the reality is that many welfare recipients need job training in addition to working and caring for children.

The solution is for Massachusetts to offer taxpayers tax credits for contributions they make to nonprofit organizations that help the poor. Private job training programs, funded by taxpayer contributions, would then be strengthened to provide the assistance and discipline that welfare recipients may need. These organizations may also be able to better identify local labor market needs. In Sacramento, for example, several churches that run job training programs have identified the local health-care industry as a source of jobs for trainees.

The reality is that the economy won't always spawn so many jobs. Massachusetts needs to move now toward a charitable tax credit program that can help private local organizations provide the crucial skills many people need in order to get and to keep a job.


Massachusetts needs to move toward a charitable tax credit program that can help private local organizations provide the critical skills many people need in order to get and keep a job.

Studying State Charitable Tax Credits

Presently 28 states offer some form of state-based charitable tax credit. Though many of these programs are modest at best, they provide valuable information about how charitable tax credits can be effective in helping to eliminate poverty.

BHI has embarked on a study of these state-based charitable tax credits. Over the coming months, we will survey key stakeholders in more than 20 states that have a variety of tax credit programs that help the poor. Our survey will cover the gamut of eligible programs, ranging from food banks and homeless shelters in Michigan to job training programs in Louisiana. Watch for our results later this year.

Ohioans and Tax Increases: "Just Say No"

On May 5, Ohio voters overwhelmingly defeated a tax plan that would have increased their sales tax from 5% to 6%. Last winter, BHI showed that that 1% sales tax increase would eliminate 1.7% of the jobs in Ohio and could cause unemployment to rise from 4.4 % to approximately 6%.

Though Governor George Voinovich thought the increase was a good idea, 80% of Ohioans who voted had other ideas.

Finally, to the more than 200 BHI friends who took the time to complete and return our April survey, thank you for adding your voice to our research. As promised, we've included some of the results in this issue.