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Ohio Billionaires’
Wealth Increased by $1.6
Billion As DeWine Cuts $390 Million in Government Jobs and
Services
Gains of
6
Richest Residents Could Cover State’s $390
Million
Budget Shortfall
4 Times Over & Still Leave Billionaires as Rich as They Were
Before COVID
The collective wealth of Ohio’s six billionaires jumped by $1.6
billion, or 12.4 percent, between mid-March of last year and
Jan.
29 of this year, according to a
new report by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF)
and Health Care for
America Now (HCAN) this week.
The $1.6 billion in pandemic profits of the state’s richest
residents could cover the state’s projected
$390
million 2021
budget gap four times over and
still leave them as wealthy as they were when the pandemic
started 10 months ago.
Between March 18—the rough start date of the pandemic shutdown,
when
most
federal and
state
economic restrictions were put in place—and Jan. 29, the
total net worth of Ohio billionaires rose from $12.8 billion
to $14.4 billion, based on
this
analysis of Forbes data, and also shown in the
table below.[1]
The private gain of Ohio billionaires contrasts sharply with
the health and economic struggles that average Ohioans are
facing because of the pandemic. Over those same tough 10
months, some 883,716
state residents fell ill with the coronavirus,
11,006 died from it and 2,144,564
lost jobs in the accompanying recession. Black
Ohioans have faced disproportionate harm because of the
pandemic. Although Blacks make up 13 percent of the state’s
population, Black Ohioans have made up almost
20
percent of hospitalizations. Blacks are also
being vaccinated at much lower rates, making up fewer than
five percent of the people who have been vaccinated so far
in Ohio. Significant new resources are needed to conduct
outreach to the Black community about the vaccine, educate
and reassure people about safety and ensure meaningful
access.
But without federal aid to the state, that kind of outreach
is unlikely. Gov. Mike DeWine made
$390
million in budget cuts via executive action
across all state services already in 2021. DeWine’s budget
proposal would cut public transportation f percent, from $70
million to $7 million over the coming two years.
Transportation cuts
disproportionately impact people of color who are
more likely to depend on mass transit to get to work, run
errands or get to medical care like vaccinations.
Federal lawmakers are debating the $1.9 trillion American
Rescue Act in Congress, which could bring relief dollars to
Ohio to prevent more cuts and provide direct assistance for
unemployment insurance, housing, public transportation, and
direct cash payments to people and families. Ohio U.S.
senator
Rob
Portman has been a prominent critic of the
President’s relief plan, and is leading an effort to
reduce the aid by two-thirds. Portman’s fellow
Republicans claim the president’s
plan
is too costly.
Yet the $1.2 trillion pandemic wealth growth of the nation’s
billionaires would nearly close the funding gap between the
$1.9 trillion proposed by the President and the $600 billion
offered by Senate Republicans. Biden’s plan would provide
$350
billion in general aid to state and local
governments to preserve jobs and critical public services
plus $170 billion to help schools reopen and support public
colleges.
While Senator Portman is pushing to
reduce the amount of direct cash payments to
families from $1400 in Biden’s American Rescue Act to $1000
per individual, Ohio’s six billionaires have amassed enough
new wealth during the pandemic, a $1.6 billion leap, to
send every one of the
state’s 11,689,100 residents a relief check of
roughly $136 each. A family of four would get $544.
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OHIO BILLIONAIRES WEALTH GROWTH MARCH 18, 2020
TO JANUARY 29, 2021 |
|
Name |
Mar. 18, 2020
Net Worth (Millions) |
Jan. 29, 2021
Real Time Worth (Millions) |
Wealth Growth in 10 Months (Millions) |
% Growth in 10 Months |
Primary Income Source |
Industry |
|
OHIO
TOTAL |
$12,800 |
$14,391 |
$1,591 |
12.4% |
|
|
|
Les
Wexner |
$4,000 |
$5,479 |
$1,479 |
37.0% |
retail |
Fashion & Retail |
|
Denise
York |
$3,200 |
$3,244 |
$44 |
1.4% |
San Francisco 49ers |
Sports |
|
Clayton
Mathile |
$2,300 |
$2,290 |
($10) |
-0.4% |
pet food |
Food & Beverage |
|
Norma
Lerner |
$1,100 |
$1,133 |
$33 |
3.0% |
banking |
Finance & Investments |
|
Nancy
Lerner |
$1,100 |
$1,123 |
$23 |
2.1% |
banking, credit cards |
Finance & Investments |
|
Randolph Lerner |
$1,100 |
$1,122 |
$22 |
2.0% |
banking, credit cards |
Finance & Investments |
Sources: All data is from
Forbes
March 18, 2020, data is from the Forbes World’s Billionaires
List: The Richest in 2020.
Jan. 29, 2021 data was taken from Forbes real-time estimates
of wealth that day.
As Ohio billionaires ride out the crisis on a rising tide of
wealth, the state’s working families struggle to keep their
heads above water and make it through COVID:
●
206,154 state residents were collecting unemployment the
week ended Jan. 9 [U.S.
Department of Labor]
●
Between March and September 2020, 3,108 state businesses
closed, 1,711 of them permanently. [YELP]
●
Late last year, 1,043,000 adult state residents, or 13%,
reported going hungry over the past week. The figure for
households with children was 14%. [Center
on Budget & Policy Priorities, CBPP, Table 1]
●
19% of the state’s tenants—467,000—were behind in their rent
at the end of 2020. [CBPP,
Table 3]
Low-wage workers,
people of color and
women
have suffered disproportionately in the combined medical and
economic crises because of long-standing racial and gender
disparities.
“Once again, Ohio lawmakers are demonstrating where their
priorities lie, and it’s not with struggling Ohio families
who are trying to get through the pandemic while taking care
of their families,” said Reverend Marcia Dinkins, executive
director of Black Women Rising. “Instead of passing the
relief we need in Congress and stopping cuts to jobs and
services in the state budget, Republicans like Senator
Portman want to nickel and dime Ohioans even as the rich
keep getting richer.”
“Billionaires have been reaping bushels of pandemic profits
the last 10 months while many working families are reeling,
state and local services are suffering and jobs are
disappearing,” said Frank Clemente, executive director of
Americans for Tax Fairness. “Congress needs to come
to the immediate rescue to get
the country out of this mess. And
then it should turn its attention to enacting sweeping
reforms that make the wealthy and corporations pay their
fair share of taxes so we can create an economy that works
for all of us.”
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