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Union commends Governor for tax cut freeze

Sept. 30, 2009 - OCSEA applauded Gov. Ted Strickland today for offering a sensible solution to what he is calling “the worst decline of state revenues in 50 years.”

“The Governor’s decision to recommend the postponement of the final year of the income tax cut is a clear and logical solution to the looming budget crisis, and one OCSEA and our coalition members have been advocating for,” said OCSEA President Eddie L. Parks.

“We know it was a tough decision to make but it was the right one for the people of Ohio, and we stand behind it 100 percent,” said Parks.

To fill the $851 million budget shortfall, the Governor was presented with three options: raise taxes, cut spending or find alternative revenue sources. The Governor gave scenarios that would have cut local school districts, for one, as much as 16 percent. Without a meaningful solution, the shortfall would have quickly turned into $2.3 billion with the addition of federal stimulus funds that would have been lost for education.

During today’s press conference, Strickland dismissed a half-cent sales tax increase and instead recommended the income tax cut suspension that will keep Ohioans taxes at 2008 levels–still a 16.75 percent reduction from 2004 tax levels.

He called for “cooperative action and bipartisan determination” on the issue, which will have to be approved by the state legislature.

“We know this isn’t the magic bullet for Ohio’s economic crisis, but, this is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Parks.

“We are hopeful the members of the General Assembly will put partisan politics aside and push through postponement of these cuts that, since their enactment, have benefited the wealthiest the most,” Parks added.

The announcement comes after a recent Ohio Supreme decision declaring that slot machines in the Ohio’s racetracks would have to be decided by a vote of the people, most likely in Nov. 2010.

The slot proposal would have brought in an estimated $1 billion to Ohio’s budget over the biennium. The high court’s ruling, however, left the Governor and state legislators scrambling to find alternatives to fill the large budget hole.

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Loss of slots could put budget in peril