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Ohio Democrats Unveil Their Own State Budget Proposal

photo of Michael Skindell, Charleta Tavares, Edna Brown, Cecil Thomas, Kenny Yuko
JO INGLES
/
OHIO PUBLIC RADIO

Just days after Republican Senators unveiled their new two-year budget with some substantial cuts, Senate Democrats presented a plan of their own. And this one is drastically different than the one that’s likely to pass the GOP controlled Senate next week. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports.

Democrats in the Senate say the Republican budget proposal puts the cost of running state government on Ohioans who are the least able to afford it. Senator Kenny Yuko uses the analogy of a burning house to outline the difference in the plan from his caucus and the one unveiled by Republicans earlier this week.

“We have one plan that calls for a can of gasoline and one plan that calls for some water. We’re here to tell you that we’ve got the fire hose on our side.”

The Democrats’ plan calls for suspending a tax cut that allows many small businesses to deduct income up to $250,000. They say that will save the state more than two billion dollars that can be invested into schools, Medicaid and local governments. And they say their bill won’t give those most able to pay income taxes a break at the expense of lower wage earners who can least afford it.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.