burying his face in the public trough
and never looking up
Posted on 05/03/2004 10:15:41 PM PDT by litany_of_lies
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Tax-Happy Taft
May 4, 2004; Page A20
President Bush is scheduled to campaign in Ohio today, where he'll talk to families and small business owners who are benefiting from federal tax relief. Maybe some of what Mr. Bush says will rub off on the state's GOP establishment, which has lost its fiscal bearings of late.
Start with Governor Bob Taft, a Republican who is now making common cause with public employee unions in an attempt to block the repeal of his tax increases. Last summer the Governor and Republican-controlled Legislature broke repeated pledges not to raise taxes without permission from voters.
Citing the slow economy and labeling it "reform," Mr. Taft promoted and signed a $3 billion tax increase -- the largest in state history.
SNIP
Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is the garden at this skunk party. Following Governor Taft's about-face, he launched a statewide campaign in September to repeal the sales tax increase through a ballot initiative. Mr. Blackwell, who has gubernatorial aspirations of his own, is one of the few high-ranking officials in the state who can still recognize a spending problem when he sees one.
In 1994, Ohio's general operating budget was $14.4 billion. Today, it's $24.8 billion. That's a 71% increase -- the highest in the nation -- over a decade of low inflation and next to no state population growth. "Spending drives our tax policy and our tax policy feeds our spending sprees," says Mr. Blackwell. "Our tax code is convoluted and our tax rates are antigrowth. It's a vicious cycle, an economic death spiral."
Mr. Blackwell's assessment is grim, but so are the facts. Ohio has been more of a spectator than a participant in the country's economic recovery. More than 200,000 jobs have been lost in the past three years, and inflation is above the national average. That might be one reason why Ohio leads all other states in the loss of 25- to 39-year-olds. And having the third-highest tax burden in the country (up from the 11th spot five years ago), according to the Tax Foundation's latest rankings, doesn't help. Both business- and job-creation are lagging.
SNIP
Mr. Taft and the Legislature know that if voters have any say in this matter, they're very likely to embrace the rollback. The last time Ohioans got a chance to vote on a sales tax increase was 1998, and they soundly defeated the measure. More than half of the Legislature is up for re-election this year, and if Mr. Blackwell is able to get his signatures certified in time, he'll make many lawmakers squirm.
The state's GOP establishment says it's focused on helping President Bush carry Ohio and win a second term. Yet Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett has opposed Mr. Blackwell's efforts.
SNIP
Mr. Blackwell knows that reversing the sales tax increase alone won't magically revitalize Ohio's economy. But it's a good first step. So is forcing elected officials to keep their word.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I didn't know how underhanded the state's GOP has become. Unexcerpted text notes that the initiative for sales tax repeal is being stalled by frivolous signature-challening petitions in 60 counties filed by the public unions with clear approving footprints back to the statehouse. There has even been talk of recalling Taft, but my guess is that it's a pipe dream at best.
The editorial is right. If Bush wants to win Ohio, he needs to embrace sales tax repeal and Ken Blackwell. With no senator up for re-election and mostly non-competitive House races, he is taking a huge risk of apathy by the base if he doesn't. If that happens, the ABBs (Anybody But Bushes) may prevail. Almost no one wins the Presidency without winning Ohio.
Taft laid back on his family name and has shown no leadership.
As for the Ohio demos seeing this opportunity, fuggedabout it. Most of them are Hillary clones, IMO.
Looks like some are scared of Blackwell's potential.
He doesn't have a PRAYER!!!
He travelled about 6 weeks ago...2 weeks BEFORE Colin Powell stated...in INDIA...that OFFSHORING is the Official PUBLIC POLICY of the U.S.A....to OHIO, publicly Swallowing the KOOL-AID!!!
We are at such a crisis in this Country...I Pray to G-D for one of these "parties", Demicans and Republicrats, EXTINCTION!!!!!!!!!!
Bring on some TRULY NEW Ideas...like...AMERICA FIRST [for G-D's Sake!!!!!!!].
It is time for a new generation of civic minded people to take over and set the state to rights.
Regards,
BJ Kresnye,(candidate for 63rd District), has been beating this drum for years. In the years since 1991 I believe spending is up approx 115%. We have disected it at Heritage Club and come to the conclusion the only answer is a Tax and Expenditure Limitation amendment to the Ohio Constitution.
The Colorado model, (which would be a good idea for Ohio), limits spending increases to the rate of inflation AND population growth. Population goes down, so does spending. Inflation is low, and so is the growth of spending. In addition, it would take a super majority of the Senate and House to raise taxes. The latest tax increase wouldn't have gotten through
Tim Cassell, (BJ's opponent in the 63rd), just came out and said that he wants to make the 1% sales tax increase for education, which means he wants to make it permanent. No mention of reducing other spending in Columbus, which means that other taxes would have to be increased to offset the shortage caused by diverting the tax revenues to schools.
As I have mentioned before, the ORP is intentionally committing suicide, and there doesn't seem to be any way we in the hustings can prevent it.
Householder, Taft, Petro, Montgomery, et al want to take us on a ride that it will take years to recover from.
In God We Trust…..Semper Fi!
The naivete on this site amazes me. I once asked 4 term Republican governor Jim Rhodes if he felt Republicans should win every political race. Jim Rhodes' reply was Classic Jim Rhodes:
Bush knows that in every second term try, a Republican incumbent loses some of the far right. It is historically the case. Since it always happens generation after generation, the first term requires some moves to appeal to the center. Ike, Nixon, Reagan, and now Bush have all done it. Nixon said it best.."Run to the right in the primaries. Then Run to the center for the General Election."
Perhaps Bush, if not Kerry, has learned from the Arnie victory in California. The way to victory is to take your half out of the middle. That leaves both the far left and far right with nowhere to go. If the entire fight is for the center, then neither the right or the left are needed for victory by either party.
The strategies of the left and right have failed. Both tend to say, give us our way or we will walk. If that be the case then the only solution for both parties is to find way to win if a major portion of the base walks.
Arnold Swartzenegger has shown the way. It is the future. Watch it happen.
When "the base" no-shows for a decade-plus, they are not "the base" anymore. There is a new "base" that disagrees with them now.
"The base" threw a temper tantrum in 1992 and gave us Bill Clinton. We're still paying for that monumental act of folly...and we'll be paying for years to come.
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