Kasich offers election year tax cut of $21 per Ohioan
Yet more details are emerging about John Kasich’s planned income tax cut, To be funded by additional revenue collections on oil and gas drillers. Revenue from fracking, after setting aside a portion for oversight by the Department of Natural Resources, would be deposited into a special fund that, when it reached a certain threshold amount, would trigger an across the board income tax cut, most likely in 2014 – the year Kasich is up for reelection. According to administration projections, provided to the Dispatch:
the tax cut in 2014 would be about 1.6 percent.
What does that work out to, for the average earner? As we pointed out in our earlier analysis, an Ohio taxpayer earning the median income of $47,358 pays $1,346 in state income tax. That means the 2014 taxes for the average Ohioans would be reduced by $21, or 40 cents per weekly paycheck. I don’t know about you, but that much won’t even buy me a copy of the Dispatch, let alone make a dent in my weekly expenses, so it seems a rather empty gesture as far as election year gimmicks go.
Perhaps preparing for criticism that the amount would be miniscule for ordinary Ohioans, the report clarifies:
The reduction would be the same percentage for all tax brackets, but in terms of actual dollars, it would benefit the wealthy and small businesses more because they pay more in income taxes.
Which seems a rather odd defense, that it will help the wealthy and businesses more than the rest of us. For an election year gimmick, this seems mis-targeted. I think we can all assume that the wealthy and small business community (as represented by the local Chambers and ultra-conservative NFIB) were already on Kasich’s side.
Details of the proposal are expected to be included in the Mid-Biennium Review (MBR) budget legislation, expected to be introduced early next week. Hearings will start Wednesday in the House Finance Committee. As they prepare to consider this proposal, Ohioans might want to contact their House member and let them know what an annual tax cut of $21 would mean to them.
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BFD-let’s all bend over so he can blow smoke up our arses.
I saw something this week, I think it was in the Plain Dealer, where there was a comment that part of revenue from the drilling was going to be used to pay for the damage to the local roads that the drilling will cause.
I haven’t heard much about drilling money being spent in the county of origin aside from that.
Any one have any news?
@stryx,
That was probably this article. Yes, originally Kasich was floating a combination of an increased oil & gas severance tax, to fund an income tax cut and an impact fee, that would be shared with counties to pay for the impacts of fracking. What we are hearing is that Kasich got negative feedback from the anti-tax zealots that a new fee is the same as a tax, so if ANY of the proceeds go to funding local governments instead of to reducing other taxes, the proposal would not be “revenue-neutral” and would result in legislators violating the “no tax” pledges they signed.
The latest behind the scenes talk is that instead of any new taxes and fees going to local governments, they’re just going to tell governments that their tax collections will go up due to oil & gas drilling activity (income tax, sales tax, property tax on the wells) and they should use that money to deal with the roads or chemical spills or whatever.
Also, backing away from an impact fee for local governments will actually be the second time they’ve screwed the locals in the process of developing this proposal. You may have read on Plunderbund about a plan to require drillers to maintain & fix local roads that had been hammered out in months of meetings between county commissioners, county engineers, big oil companies and the Governor’s office was scrapped unexpectedly when the smaller oil companies balked.
This happened on the day of the State of the State speech, when Kasich publicly claimed he wasn’t going to let a bunch of “yahoos” come in and mess up our state.
Pack up the Plymouth kids we’re goin’ to Micky D’s -I sure luv you Govner K.