Statehouse News Bureau

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House Speaker Concerned About Senate Budget Spending, Tax Cut

By Karen Kasler

Published June 26, 2019 at 9:49 PM EDT

House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) talks to reporters after session. [Karen Kasler / Statehouse News Bureau] — House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) talks to reporters after session.

The six lawmakers working out the hundreds of differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget are facing some a really big one right off the top: a major split over tax cuts.

The House budget cuts income taxes by 6.6 percent and drops the $250,000 small business tax deduction to $100,000. The Senate budget restores that deduction and cuts taxes by 8 percent.

Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) said senators spent hundreds of millions of dollars that the House had included as a cushion and added some more spending, along with taking surplus funds from various state agencies.

“So, there’s a pretty considerable difference between the House version of the budget and the Senate version of the budget in regards to both spending and the taxation,” Householder said.

The House made deliberate choices with its budget, he said, and that spending on taxes, health care and education are the issues that stand out to him in the conference committee process.