Ed FitzGerald assails Ohio budget as harmful to middle-class families, the poor and women
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/06/ed_fitzgerald_assails_ohio_bud.html
"The governor represents the whole state, not just one district. There's a time when the governor should stand up when a legislative body gets off track and say this is what's right and this is what's wrong," FitzGerald said at a news conference, hours before a media event scheduled for this afternoon by Kasich. "If a legislature gets on the wrong track and heads in an extreme direction, the governor has the power and the responsibility to do something about it."
Kasich, with Senate President Keith Faber and House Speaker William G. Batchelder, will discuss the two-year, $62 billion budget with reporters later at the Governor's Mansion in Bexley.
Among the budget's major provisions are a phased-in 10 percent cut in income taxes, a tax cut for small businesses and an increase in the state sales tax from 5.5 percent to 5.75 percent.
The budget will eliminate the 12.5 percent property tax reduction for homeowners for any new taxes, which would add to homeowners' costs for school levies and other local tax issues.