Halting the Loss of Millions of Dollars in Earned Income Tax Credit Benefits from Ohio is an issue brief published and released by the CDF-Ohio KIDS COUNT program.

According to data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), more than 797,000 Ohio taxpayers received the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in tax year 2005, representing a $1.4 billion investment in Ohio families, individuals, and the community in which they live and work. Regrettably however, hard-working Ohioans lose a significant portion of their refund when they visit commercial tax preparers and purchase Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs). Tax preparation fees, RALs and other commercial products used to access tax refunds drained $104 million dollars from EITC benefits in tax year 2005; $3 billion was diverted nationally.

This issue brief highlights the financial loss endured by hard-working Ohioans to tax preparation businesses, examines trends in RAL usage and provides an overview of four key measures that would help Ohio families keep the money they have earned and reduce child poverty.