From the Ohio Green Party website:
Ohio Governor Kasich has released his FY 2016-2017 budget and, predictably, it favors our wealthier citizens over the middle and lower classes.
The 23% income tax cut outlined would place over $11,000 back into the wallets of the wealthiest 1%, while the lower 3/5 of taxpayers would actually see their taxes increase slightly.
The Governor also outlines cuts of $4.6 Billion, further damaging local communities across the state. In addition he proposes an increase in the state sales tax from 5.75% to 6.25%. Sales taxes are the most regressive of all taxes and this will be another financial hit to millions of low income Ohioans. The sales tax would also expand to include services not currently taxed, including cable TV subscriptions and parking.
Also affecting lower income citizens is the dollar per pack increase in cigarette taxes. If this increase was earmarked for health and disease prevention initiatives it would be more acceptable but it is not.
The part of the budget that deals with school funding ignores the obvious, the fact the Ohio Supreme Court has, multiple times, declared Ohio’s method of funding schools through property taxes, to be unconstitutional. His proposal continues the reliance upon local property taxes to fund public education. Despite the GOP’s claim that school funding has increased over the past two years, that increase was merely replacing monies that had been cut from education funding following the start of Kasich’s first term. Overall education spending is still over $10 million less than prior to his inauguration.
The Governor’s plan touts the increase in taxes placed upon “Commercial Activity”, a tax hike which affects the oil and gas fracking industry. The Ohio Green Party has always stood against the creation and expansion of that particular industry. The environmental degradation that Kasich and the GOP have allowed to occur in Ohio far outweighs any monetary value to be gained from a minor (.26% to .32%) increase in tax receipts.
Another point that Kasich is using to promote his budget is the increase in public transportation spending from $7.3 million to $8.3 million….a laughably miniscule increase, especially when one considers that an ODOT study recommended an investment of over $90 million to meet current and future needs and demographics.
Overall the Governor’s budget is more of the same old Tea Party inspired mantra…more money for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
Ohio needs a more equitable budget….one that fixes the school funding issue, one that offers a helping hand up to our most downtrodden citizens, one that invests in Ohio’s future, not one that favors the 1% at the expense at everyone else.