Anti-tax group circulates petitions

COLUMBUS -- A group pushing for a repeal of the temporary 1-cent sales-tax increase is circulating petitions, now that their proposed petition language has been approved by the state attorney general's office.
The increase was passed as part of the state's current two-year, $48.8 billion budget.
The Citizens for Tax Repeal, a group affiliated with Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a conservative Republican, say they will mount a statewide effort to collect at least 96,870 signatures by late December to place a proposed repeal before the GOP-led Legislature.
Blackwell and the group have said if lawmakers do not comply, they will seek the additional 96,870 valid signatures necessary to place the issue directly before the voters in November 2004. Other Republicans, including Gov. Bob Taft, have criticized Blackwell's proposed repeal, saying the move would endanger the delivery of state services.
Blackwell has said the temporary sales tax increase that's to end June 30, 2005, was unnecessary.
The group's original petition was rejected by Attorney General Jim Petro, a Republican, because the group's proposed petition didn't say when the temporary sales tax increase was to end.
The temporary sales tax is projected to generate about $2.6 billion for state coffers over the two-year budget period.