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Governor, GOP lawmakers tout new state budget
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Gov. John Kasich and the Republican leaders of the Ohio Legislature touted their $62 billion budget Friday, defending the tax reforms contained therein and leaving open the possibility of an early return from the summer recess to act on a Medicaid expansion.
Kasich, House Speaker Bill Batchelder and Senate President Keith Faber reiterated their support for the policy initiatives they have implemented over the past two years and the new ones contained in the 5,000-plus page, two-year spending plan, which the governor will sign before the start of the new fiscal year on Monday.
There wasn’t a whole lot of new ground covered during their post-budget press availability Friday at the governor’s ceremonial residence near downtown Columbus. As is the case with other speeches by the governor, there was ample talk of the dire economic straits facing elected officials in 2011, with recessionary job losses and a multi-billion-dollar budget imbalance that had to be tackled and the response from the administration and lawmakers to turn the trends.
“Our unemployment is down, our job growth is up, our deficits are gone, our surpluses border on historic, our tax cuts are another impetus for the growth of the state of Ohio,” Kasich said. “I think that we are standing out as a great state in a great country.”
The governor also praised increased school funding, a shifting focus on college graduation, provisions made for the state’s neediest residents and tax reform measures included in the new budget bill.
The latter includes a 10 percent decrease over three years in personal income-tax rates, a 50 percent reduction in a portion of small-business income, an increase in the state sales-tax rate to 5.75 percent from 5.5 percent, the end of property-tax rollbacks on new or replacement levies and a broadening of Commercial Activity Tax collections.
Backers say the changes will result in a net tax cut of $2.7 billion, which the governor said likely was “the biggest tax cut in any state in America.”
Kasich said the changes continue the state on a path toward decreased income taxes, with an increased reliance on taxes based on consumption.
“We intend to emphasize incentives for those who take risks, those who create jobs and for those who work,” he said, adding later, “We are moving in the right direction on taxes. We have to continue to cut taxes. I have a commitment from the leadership that we will sit down again before too long and try to figure out how we can do even more.”
Kasich and the legislative leaders said they still are working on Medicaid expansion, with progress being made behind the scenes.
The governor’s original budget proposal called for an expansion to Ohioans earning up to 138 percent of federal poverty level (about $15,400 per person or $23,050 for a family of four).
The administration estimated that the expansion would leverage billions in federal Medicaid dollars, save the state more than $400 million in general revenue funds and ensure 275,000-plus additional low-income Ohioans have coverage.
But Republican lawmakers balked at the plan, saying it amounted to an endorsement of President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law and out- of-control government spending.
They have indicated that any reform package would need to include job training or other measures to help Ohioans gain employment and boost their incomes enough to take them off public assistance.
Kasich was mum Friday on budget amendments he might remove via his line-item veto authority, including several controversial abortion-related provisions.
“This is a big bill,” the governor said. “We’re going through the bill currently. ... We’ll go through all these provisions. Just keep in mind that I am pro-life.”