Gov. John Kasich's State of the State speech Tuesday was full of optimism about the future, and passion for his initiatives. Top among those is a plan to dramatically change Ohio's tax structure. The governor's two-year budget proposal would lower income taxes and broaden the sales tax to include most services, from your basic $10 haircut to your most expensive legal counsel. He also wants to hike oil and gas severance taxes, and opt in to the federal Medicaid expansion, which he says will bring billions of Ohioans' tax dollars back to the state.

Skeptics on the Right and Left

Kasich used his annual address to try to sell state legislators on the big changes he’s proposing in taxes and state spending. The governor also reported good economic news, but, as Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen tells us, Democrats and even Kasich’s fellow Republicans refused to buy some key parts of his sales pitch.

Sound of Ideas

On 90.3's the Sound of Ideas, reporters and host Mike McIntyre assessed Kasich's speech and compared it with Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's State of the County address.