Group of Ohio Democrats calls for tax hike

COLUMBUS (AP) — A small group of Democratic lawmakers is splitting from Gov. Ted Strickland and calling for a tax hike to help plug Ohio’s budget deficit.

Four Democrats in the Ohio House said today that Ohio can’t cut its way out of a $3.2 billion budget deficit without doing devastating damage to the social safety net.

Strickland and House Speaker Armond Budish, both Democrats, and Republican Senate President Bill Harris have said they don’t want to raise taxes.

State Rep. Bob Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, said he and his colleagues were speaking out to let leaders know that everything should be on the table to solve the deficit. Hagan also said the tax changes promoted by Republicans in 2005 — and now supported by Strickland — have failed to produce jobs and have left the state with a budget hole.