|
“It’s ironic that the Governor boasted about Ohio’s
expanding economy during his speech, yet Ohio trailed the
nation in job creation last year,” said Rep. Ashford. “This
year the governor cut taxes for the rich and he’s pushing
for even more tax cuts that favor top income earners – all
the while half of Ohioans are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Our communities will continue to fall behind as long as our
governor caters to the wealthy while standing on the backs
of the middle class.”
Gov. Kasich also talked taxes during the event, promising to
further cut Ohio’s income tax—a move that favors the very
wealthiest. Since Gov. Kasich dished out his first round of
tax breaks targeted at the wealthy—middle and working class
Ohioans have felt the effects of his sales and property tax
increases across the state.
Kasich offered no plans to prioritize schools and local
communities after his initial historic state budget cuts of
$2 billion and $1 billion, respectively. Instead, the
Governor seemed to gloss over the lack of investment,
focusing on new “deregulation” initiatives that seem to
indicate a stronger corporate presence in Ohio schools. The
Kasich administration has yet to offer any steps in working
to fix Ohio’s unconstitutional school funding formula.
Gov. Kasich also tried his hand at conveying an
understanding of Ohio’s impoverished population, yet more
than 10,000 vulnerable Ohioans were stripped of their SNAP
benefits last year due to his new restrictions. As of 2013,
Ohio was the seventh most impoverished state in the US with
over 1.8 million Ohioans living below the poverty line
|
