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The party's own considerable role in creating the state budget mess
Published on Friday, Jul 03, 2009
Yes, the governor has received a torrent of criticism. To his credit, he did step forward, as the chief executive should, with a plan to balance the state budget. Which invites the question: How have Republicans performed in comparison?
Bill Harris and his Republican majority in the Ohio Senate slashed $1 billion in spending and then punted to a conference committee. Put another way, Republicans, eager as they are to expose flaws in the governor's plan, have yet to produce a budget document that makes ends meet.
That is noteworthy in view of the heavy Republican role in creating the current $3.2 billion hole in the two-year state budget. Yes, the recession has played a big role. Still, in 2005, Republicans engineered a sweeping set of tax cuts, amounting to a revenue loss of a projected $2 billion a year. Part of the effort was necessary, especially repair of an outdated system for taxing businesses. The rest? Republicans went too far, leaving the state without sufficient money to cover its obligations.
Consider that of the five largest state tax reductions in the country in the current fiscal year, Ohio far outpaces the others, shedding $800 million. Indiana is next with $290 million in tax cuts. Pennsylvania follows with $241 million, Michigan, $121 million and Georgia, $99 million.
The responsible course would be to correct the error, meeting critical priorities while still leaving Ohioans with a lighter tax burden than five years ago. Unfortunately, Republicans have been mum on the matter, and they have a conspicuous ally: Ted Strickland has aided their cause, insisting that all of the tax cuts are a swell idea.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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akron , oh
Posted 05:53 AM, 07/03/2009
why dont the people just turn over our pay checks to the government and the editorial department of the ABJ and the governor can send us what ever they dont use to run the government .
look we dont all come from wealthy famiies like douglas and hoffman , must of us work hard to make end meet , so should the government .
the government should do more with less . most of us regular guys do that everyday .
wadsworth, oh
Posted 12:13 PM, 07/04/2009
The article states..."Put another way, Republicans, eager as they are to expose flaws in the governor's plan, have yet to produce a budget document that makes ends meet."
And this seems to be one of their many problems since man discovered fire. And not just at the state level, but the feds as well.
akron, oh
Posted 12:48 PM, 07/04/2009
@workingjoe, AMEN..... I guess the "publicans should jus die an go away, The Demoncritters surely know more about spending the money on all sorts of things. Thank goodness for the demoncritters,otherwise Beacon would go out of business, Too Left for me..
