AARP Ohio pushes caregiver bills
- AARP Ohio is backing Ohio House Bill 279, a 2025 measure that would create a state income-tax credit for family caregiving expenses. - The bill would cover 30% of eligible out-of-pocket costs, up to $2,000 a year, for qualifying caregivers under income caps. - It matters because Ohio caregivers are spending thousands themselves, and the budget route AARP first pushed in April 2025 did not stick.
Family caregiving is one of those jobs people do because they have to — but the bills are real. In Ohio, AARP is pushing lawmakers to treat that work less like invisible family duty and more like something the tax code should actually recognize. The current fight centers on House Bill 279, a proposal to give some caregivers a state income-tax credit for out-of-pocket costs tied to caring for an older relative. That matters because Ohio’s earlier budget push for the same idea didn’t become the lasting fix advocates wanted. ### What is AARP Ohio pushing? The main vehicle now is H.B. 279 in the 136th General Assembly. The bill is sponsored by Reps. Adam Mathews and Dontavius Williams, and it would authorize an income-tax credit for family caregiving expenses. AARP Ohio has been publicly pressing for this kind of relief since at least April 3, 2025, when state director Jenny Carlson testified to the House Finance Committee for a caregiver tax credit in the biennial budget. (aarp.org) ### What would the credit actually do? Basically, the bill would let eligible caregivers claim 30% of qualified expenses, up to a maximum credit of $2,000 per year. The credit is nonrefundable, which means it lowers tax liability rather than sending a full cash refund, but unused amounts could be carried forward indefinitely. That makes it more useful than a one-year-only writeoff, but still less generous than a refundable credit would be. (legislature.ohio.gov) ### Who would qualify? The proposal is aimed at caregivers with moderate incomes who are spending real money on an older family member’s care. Joint filers would need modified adjusted gross income below $94,000, single filers below $69,000, and married people filing separately below $56,500. The caregiver also must spend at least $1,000 in a year and be helping a relative age 50 or older with a documented need for help with at least two daily activities like eating, dressing, or hygiene. (legislature.ohio.gov) ### What expenses count? This is the practical part. Eligible expenses include out-of-pocket costs tied directly to care — things like ramps, bedroom or bathroom safety upgrades, vehicle modifications, assistive technology, and other mobility or safety improvements. The bill is trying to cover the stuff families actually buy when they’re trying to keep someone at home instead of watching a situation slide into institutional care. (legislature.ohio.gov) ### Why is AARP making this such a big deal? Because the scale is huge. AARP says Ohio has about 1.5 million family caregivers providing roughly $21 billion in unpaid care each year, and those caregivers spend about $7,200 annually out of pocket on average. Carlson has framed the issue in very plain terms — families are covering essential care costs themselves, and without that unpaid labor, more people would end up in nursing homes at much higher public and private cost. (legislature.ohio.gov) ### Didn’t they already try this through the budget? Yes — and that’s the key context. In April 2025, AARP Ohio pushed for a caregiver tax credit amendment in the state budget bill, H.B. 96. But the budget became law in late June 2025, and the current standalone push around H.B. 279 shows advocates are still working to get a durable caregiver tax-credit policy over the line. That’s the gap Jenny Carlson’s recent messaging is pointing at. (aarp.org) ### What’s the catch? The catch is that support for the idea does not automatically mean smooth passage. Even sympathetic Republicans have raised questions about whether a nonrefundable credit helps enough lower-income caregivers, since many owe limited state income tax in the first place. So the politics here are not really about whether caregiving matters — they’re about whether this specific tax design is the right tool. (aarp.org) ### Bottom line? AARP Ohio is not just posting general caregiver awareness content. It is pushing a specific Ohio bill — H.B. 279 — built around a targeted tax credit for family caregivers. If that passes, the immediate change is modest but concrete: some families caring for older relatives at home would finally get state tax relief for costs they already absorb on their own. (legislature.ohio.gov) (spectrumnews1.com)
