Repeal of ’05 tax cuts only solution for Ohio

By State Reps. MIKE FOLEY and BOB HAGAN

Ohio is a great, messy, complicated state. We are conservative and liberal, libertarian and socialist. We likewise have a whole bunch of moderates, except for the host of issues on which they swing to the left or right. In the partisan parlance of the day, Ohio is a purple state. In a word, we are normal.

For the past 20 years or so, our politics have swung to the political right, making Ohio seem far more a red state. Give the devil his due; the right has organized and taken advantage of our beautiful, messy state and won elections.

We have some real structural economic problems now, however. Problems we can only solve if we re-balance our politics and take some progressive economic actions. First and foremost, we must deal with our budget or lack thereof. Since 2005 when the Republican majority and former Gov. Taft enacted HB66, our economy has been headed for the train wreck where it ended up this year.

While Gov. Ted Strickland should be commended for seeking a moderate solution, his hands are somewhat tied by the Legislature in which we serve. Ohio needs a bold, progressive solution. In the past few years, all Ohioans have seen a dramatic reduction in the taxes we pay. This may seem popular, but these tax cuts have not only wrought enormous, unnecessary challenges; they have failed to produce any of the economic results which led to their original implementation.

No economic stimulation

The argument for this dramatic tax cut was that it would stimulate Ohio’s economy; it did not. Rather, Ohio’s economy sank further, well before the current national economic troubles. Were it not for the federal stimulus funds received as part of the response to the national crisis, Ohio would be in much bigger trouble than it currently is.

We cannot make up for the harm of the 2005 tax cut policy, but we can stop it from causing further damage. We can bring Ohio back from the edge of greater decline. Rather than following the governor’s modest proposal, we should repeal much of the 2005 tax cut and restore Ohio’s upper tax levels to those of 2005. That is precisely what we and a number of our colleagues propose in newly introduced legislation. The benefits from pursuing this policy are many. The compromise budget adopted last summer left not only many people unhappy, it left far too many of our fellow citizens hurting even more. The pain of the cuts enacted just 10 weeks ago is already being felt throughout our state. Among the Ohioans who lost out are our youngest and oldest neighbors and those most in need of help. From the Early Learning Initiative to adult protective services, programs and services geared to enable children to start school well-prepared and to ensure that the oldest among us are not abused, much-needed programs have been eliminated and decimated by budget cuts. Community mental health services, both a moral and safety imperative, were cut by nearly $200 million compared to spending last year.

We cannot wait any longer for a bold solution.

That solution is pretty obvious, it involves simply restoring tax rates for those earning more than $200,000 annually to the level prior to the 2005 cuts and creating a new tax bracket for those earning more than $500,000. (“These aren’t new taxes ... they’re old taxes”, our 30-second commercial would say). As a matter of fact, both rates we are proposing are lower than the top tax rate for several years during the 1980s.

While some will immediately seize on this proposal to score political points, our challenge is much too great to allow silly, non-intellectual games to derail a crucial effort to move Ohio forward. Certainly, those among us earning such high salaries at this time of crisis are willing to contribute just a little bit more, so that all of us can have a better future. One thing we know about Ohioans is that despite our flaws, we care about our state and each other.

It is not such a bad thing to require those who are doing pretty well right now to help those who are struggling by contributing more in taxes to the state.

Social services

We need adequate social services; we need good schools; common sense development patterns; recreation centers and parks; clean drinking water and clean air; bridge inspectors; meat inspectors; colleges and universities; great transportation networks; a court system to fairly arbitrate our disputes. The list goes on. But none of this happens without sharing the costs and burdens and opportunities.

Amidst all of Ohio’s history of innovation and hard work, the portion of us that is selfish has been encouraged and indulged by our state government for the last two decades. We can extricate some of that selfishness from our tax code. Having top income earners paying their fair share would provide Ohio’s bone-dry budget with an additional $1.4 billion just in this budget period. It’s the right thing to do, and we urge your support.

X Democrat Mike Foley represents the 14th District, Democrat Bob Hagan represents the 60th District. They can be reached by email at foleypol@yahoo.com and repbob60@gmail.com, or by telephone, (614)466-3350 and (614)466-9435, respectively.