John Kasich has proposed another two-year budget plan that his fellow Republicans in charge of the legislature will push aside for the most part. Again, they are put off by the architecture. The governor once more proposes heavy tax-shifting, calling for additional reductions in state income tax rates while seeking an increase in an expanded sales tax, with higher levies on tobacco and alcohol, to cover nearly all of the lost revenue.
Actually, the governor still has a point about broadening the base of the sales tax to reflect changes in the economy, services with a larger presence. It makes sense, too, to maintain revenue levels, at the least. A higher tobacco tax would help lower the rate of infant mortality.
The governor also is right about the state applying a higher severance tax on oil and gas production, the current rate among the lowest across the country. Yet Republican lawmakers are not interested. They’ve said so repeatedly.
As a result, the familiar exercise resumes. The governor’s plan is IOA, or ignored on arrival, and lawmakers will begin to reconstruct the $67 billion budget, eschewing practically any tax increase, perhaps looking for a way to deliver a slight dose of tax relief.
Meanwhile, Ohio faces the fallout from steady reductions in taxes the past decade, the state with $3 billion less in annual revenue, households at the highest income rungs reaping almost all the benefits. The idea is that tax relief will spur substantial growth and job creation. If anything, then, Ohio should be booming in one of the country’s longest expansions. Yet the governor warns about a recession.
By law, Ohio must balance its budget. The more telling indicator is the balance of priorities. The governor calls his plan “Building for Ohio’s Next Generation.” Is the state making an adequate investment, applying resources as governments must — to achieve what individuals cannot on their own.
The governor proposes a 1 percent increase in funding for public schools, continuing the trend of failing to keep pace with the cost of inflation. The same goes for spending on early education. Not long ago, the state set its own mandate for all-day kindergarten. The commitment remains unfulfilled, along with inadequate resources for high-poverty districts.
For college students from low-income households, the governor seeks an increase in need-based aid. Unfortunately, the sum isn’t close to the amount advocated by a task force during the governorship of Bob Taft.
Give John Kasich credit for challenging lawmakers to think differently. He rightly sustains the Medicaid expansion. At the same time, his budget plan misses the point. With the state facing a skills deficit, plus such challenges as the worst of the opioid epidemic and communities needing to invest in public works and services, it could use a portion of that $3 billion annually to rebalance its priorities and truly build for the next generation.