Kasich urges passage of policy proposals

February 25, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

WILMINGTON

Gov. John Kasich used his State of the State speech Tuesday night to spotlight a recovering southwest Ohio community, to review the accomplishments of his first term in office and to urge the Republican-controlled legislature to back the tax- reform package he offered in his biennial budget.

“The state of the state is getting stronger, and we have regained our footing,” Kasich said during a speech that lasted about 80 minutes. “But we must act decisively now.”

More than 1,100 people were on hand in Clinton County, the home of House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville. This was the fourth year Kasich took his State of the State on the road, this year choosing Wilmington, which was hard-hit a half-dozen years ago with the departure of DHL, leaving thousands of residents out of work and an unemployment rate that rose above 19 percent.

Today, the community has rebounded, with an unemployment rate under 6 percent and national attention for finding ways to create jobs and restore its economic climate.

“People lost their savings, people lost their homes, a lot of people were losing hope in what their future was going to be,” Kasich said. “Our mission is to help to fix this community and to restore some hope... [and] to help people get back on their feet in places like Wilmington.”

He said his administration is not going to “drift” on the successes of his first term.

He used much of the speech to urge passage of the policy proposals in his $72 billion-plus budget bill that includes more than $500 million in cuts over the next two fiscal years.

“We need to cut taxes, and we need to restrain the growth of government,” Kasich said, adding, “Folks, it’s not the government’s money that we let them keep, [it’s Ohioans’ money].”

His tax-reform proposal includes eliminating income taxes on most small businesses, across-the-board income-tax cuts of 23 percent and increased personal exemptions for Ohioans earning less than $80,000 a year.

Kasich would pay for the tax cuts by increasing taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, oil and gas produced via horizontal hydraulic fracturing, commercial activity taxes on larger businesses and the state sales tax.

He continued to call for an increase in taxes on oil and gas produced via fracking with a portion of the proceeds directed to the eastern Ohio communities that are home to the state’s emerging shale oilfields.

To people who say an increased severance tax will kill the industry, Kasich offered, “That’s a joke, that’s a big, fat joke.”

Kasich also pushed for support for the education-related portions of his budget, including $700 million more in state funding for K-12 education.

He continued calls for a revamped welfare program, creating offices where needy Ohioans can visit to access assistance programs and take advantage of training to prepare them for job openings in their communities.

VALLEY REACTION

State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, said she was “hoping to hear sensible proposals to strengthen our public-education system and support our middle class,” but instead, heard a continued push for tax cuts that benefit the wealthy and continue to favor private charter schools at the expense of our struggling public schools.”

State Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, contended Kasich’s call to increase cigarette and sales taxes would lead to school districts needing to pass levies.

State Rep. Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, agreed with Kasich’s call to increase severance-tax rates, but noted the noticeable absence of discussion of the local government funds.

State Rep. Michael O’Brien of Warren, D-64th, contended the additional sales tax proposal would cause tax fatigue among school districts and county agencies. “I represent a border district, and that’s going to actually encourage people to go to Pennsylvania, where there is no sales tax, to buy their goods.”