Columbus
Dispatch...
Any extra taxes
should benefit neediest, advocates tell lawmakers
By Catherine Candisky
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
More tax cuts won’t help Ohioans who need food or mental-health
services or other help meeting basic needs, advocates for the poor said
yesterday.
They urged state lawmakers to use any additional tax revenue to shore
up services for the disabled, elderly, unemployed and working poor.
“After four years of budget cuts, the safety net is in shreds,” said
Margaret Hulbert, co-chairwoman of Advocates for Ohio’s Future, a
consortium of more than 200 state and local human-services
organizations.
“Ohioans have enjoyed tax cuts since 2005,” she said. “If revenue
projections increase, then those additional funds must be used to
improve vital services for Ohio’s vulnerable children, families,
seniors and people with disabilities.”
The plea followed remarks last week by Gov. John Kasich, who promised a
tax cut in 2012 if legislators go along with his two-year state budget
closing an $8 billion shortfall by reducing spending without a tax
increase.
With tax receipts up this year, some lawmakers have suggested that
unanticipated revenue could be used to lessen cuts in state aid to
schools, nursing homes or PASSPORT home-care services for
Medicaid-eligible Ohioans.
Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said yesterday that the governor stands by
his pledge.
“Despite facing an $8billion deficit, the governor’s budget protects
the most vulnerable among us,” Nichols said. “At the end of the day,
the biggest strain on social services in this state is a lack of jobs.
“We need to lower the state’s tax burden so that we can create jobs and
grow economically. Robust job creation is” the solution to many of the
state’s problems.
Two months ago, Kasich told The Dispatch that if the state gets more
money, he’s not sure what should be done with it all.
Kasich’s $55.6 billion budget has passed the House and is under review
by the Senate. Republican legislative leaders say decisions about how
to spend unexpected funds wouldn’t be made until after the budget
passes the Senate and both chambers come together in a conference
committee to work out any differences, likely in mid-June.
Senate President Tom Niehaus was reluctant yesterday to talk about tax
revenue that might or might not be available.
“It’s a little premature,” he said.
“I’m not going to get overanxious and be thinking about what to do with
any additional money we might have. ... Before we get anxious to spend
any surplus revenues, we need to take a hard look at our spending.”
In recent years, advocates for the poor have urged state leaders to
increase taxes to avoid deep cuts in social services. This year, with
Kasich threatening to run a bus over anyone who doesn’t go along with
his plan to rein in government spending, few are griping about budget
cuts.
Human-services organizations applaud the governor for maintaining
Medicaid eligibility and covered services and commend the House for
adding some funding to food banks and child kinship care. But promises
of an additional tax cut have led them to question Kasich’s priorities.
They note that nearly a third of Ohioans live in households earning
less than twice the federal poverty level, an amount widely recognized
as necessary to meet basic needs.
Hulbert said, “As revenues increase ... the last thing they should do
is give them back to the people who don’t need them. (They should) give
them to the people who do.”
Read it at the Columbus Dispatch
|
