For the first time in Ohio history the Ohio Assembly is set to repeal a law that is subject to a referendum. The Ohio Senate today will vote to repeal HB-194.

In protest to the Republican voting suppressing law, HB-194, Democrats worked to place a referendum on the November ballot to repeal the measure. Over 300,000 signatures were certified. The Obama campaign is urging Ohioans to protest this move by Republicans to frustrate the referendum process.

Friend —

We’ve all spent the last year fighting for our voting rights, so you need to hear this:

Republican state legislators are planning to quietly bypass Ohio’s voters tomorrow by attempting to put a stop to this fall’s HB 194 referendum that folks like you worked so hard to put on the ballot.

Instead of giving Ohio’s voters the chance to reject HB 194 in November, they want to repeal the law — and we can only imagine what they’re primed to replace it with.

This Republican majority has put up roadblocks to the early and absentee voting that nearly one-third of Ohioans used to cast their votes in 2008.

When they passed HB 194, supporters like you fought back, gathering over 300,000 signatures to put this law up for a referendum on November 6th. The other side can see that Ohio is ready to repeal this law once and for all — but they don’t want to give voters that chance.

We can’t let them get away with it.

So before the Republicans in Columbus head for their vote, will you join me in making a pledge that no matter how things shake out today, you won’t let up in this fight?

We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen tomorrow — and we have to be ready for whatever they throw at us.

These politicians are not only ignoring the will of Ohio’s voters — they’re actively trying to silence our voices. Consider this: Ohio’s legislature has never before repealed a law that is the subject of a referendum.

Just as we did last spring, and again in the fall, we’re going to do everything we can to make ourselves heard. And if the past year is any indication, we can’t let up for one minute while these attacks on voting rights continue.

Add your name, and say you’ll fight back whenever our voting rights are threatened:

http://ohio.barackobama.com/Fight-for-Voting-Rights

Stay tuned,

Greg Schultz
Ohio State Director
Obama for America

A recent Dayton Daily News article says, in Ohio, signs point to a future where extracting natural gas by hydraulic “fracking” will generate $500 million, or more, each year in additional tax revenue from Ohio’s natural gas industry.

How should Ohio use this new revenue?

The DDN reports that Governor Kasich wants to use this windfall to make an “across-the-board” tax cut. The Kasich plan would give most of this revenue to wealthy incomes and very little to middle or low incomes. As Zach Schiller says in a Policy Matters Ohio article, “Middle-class Ohioans wouldn’t get enough for a tank of gas.”

Table prepared by Policy Matters Ohio

This table from Policy Matters shows that 25% of the tax cut Kasich is proposing would go to the top 1% of incomes, while the lowest 80% of incomes would have only 30% of the tax cut to share.

As demonstrated by the Bush tax cuts and by Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Act, across-the-board cuts in income taxes lessens the progressivity of the tax code. If it is good public policy to use the $500 million per year additional tax revenue in Ohio to reduce income taxes, this $500 million could be distributed in such a way as to improve the progressivity of Ohio’s tax system.

Rather than dividing this $500 million yearly windfall so that the top 1% of incomes gets, on average, $2313 and the lowest incomes, on average, get $2, as I figure it, if the $500 million was evenly divided among taxpayers, each taxpayer would get about $95. Such a division would make the tax rates more progressive and would be a bigger stimulus to the economy.

But does it make sense to enact tax cuts right now? The reality is that just last year, the Kasich budget was balanced by cutting over $2 billion each year in state payments to local governments and local schools. Rather than using the $500 million windfall for tax cuts, it would seem that Kasich should explain why it doesn’t make more sense to use the money to restore some of these cuts to local communities.

Previous Articles:

1. Solutions To Ohio’s $8 Billion Budget Gap Should Be Focus Of Ohio Assembly Election Campaigns — July 20th, 2010
2. Ohio’s Budget Crisis: Ohio Must Find A Way To Make Its Total Tax System More Fair, More Progressive — December 17th, 2009
3. How Much Revenue Would Ohio Gain, If Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Act Was Rescinded For Top Incomes? — March 31st, 2009
4. Governor Strickland Fails To Explain Impact Of 2005 Tax Reduction Act On Ohio’s 2009 Budget Shortfall — January 28th, 2009
5. Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Act Was Predicted, By 2010, To Result In Yearly State Budget Shortfall of Billions — December 15th, 2008
6. Assembly Candidates Should Take Stand: Will Ohio Raise Taxes Or Will Ohio Cut State Services? — October 25th, 2008
7. Twelve Tax Loopholes Ohio Should Close To Generate $270 Million Additional Revenue Each Year — October 15th, 2008
8. Chris Widener, Republican Senate Candidate, Boasts About Tax Cuts, But How Will He Solve Ohio’s Budget Crisis? — October 8th, 2008
9. Ohio’s 2005 Tax Reduction Law Diminished, By 21%, The Progressivity of Ohio’s Tax Code — August 6th, 2008
10. Study Says Ohio Should Raise State Revenue $817 Million By Revising 2005 Income Tax Reduction Act — August 4th, 2008

Ted Strickland last night, in his speech at the Ohio Democratic Party’s “Legacy Dinner,” blasted Republican senate candidate, Josh Mandel.

Strickland says that Mandel, in his contest last year against Kevin Boyce, ran a bigoted race — “racially, ethically, religiously bigoted.” Strickland said, that this year, as Mandel seeks election to the U.S. Senate, he will not forget how Mandel revealed his bigoted outlook. Strickland said, “I will not forget, and the people of this state should not forget — because it says something about Mandel’s character.”

Strickland says Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s Democratic senator seeking reelection this year, fights for ordinary citizens every day