Blame Tax Increases

"Well I'm a-gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler
About workin' all summer just to try an' earn a dollar,"

is what country singer Alan Jackson crooned on his Summertime Blues song. Feel yourself nodding in agreement? Well it just might be that you live in Ohio where economic doldrums abound. Victor A. Canto has a NRO column giving one reason for Ohio's financial blight. He points out that it was the the tax increases of Ohio's then-governor Voinovich (1991 - 1998) back then that still hurt Ohio today. Canto writes,

The president still has an opportunity to forge ahead with his supply-side tax agenda. Leaders lead, they do not follow.

The president, however, will have to fight an uphill battle, particularly against the media. The liberal press will laud the recommendations of Sen. John [George V.] Voinovich, who has been a member of the root-canal wing of the Republican party for some time. Voinovich, guided by static thinking, was the architect of a major tax increase while governor of Ohio. The press at the time called his actions fiscally responsible, although they have since failed to mention that the tax increase made Ohio extremely uncompetitive in relation to neighboring states and foreign manufacturers.

Ohio’s employment never recovered from the reduction in competitiveness that the Voinovich tax increase brought about. During the presidential election campaign last year, John Kerry blamed the employment loss in Ohio to outsourcing. However, much of that “outsourcing” was to neighboring states. Nevertheless, the lackluster economic performance of Ohio turned out to be one of the main reasons why Kerry nearly carried the state last November. In other words, President Bush almost paid for the policy mistakes a senator made while serving as governor.

The president and his administration must repel the recommendations of the static thinkers, for the sake of future Republican candidates and the economy at large.

Ohio's State Tax burden is now # 3 in the country. It is indeed high time that Root-Canal Republicans get brought to the political woodshed. Voting for a tax-cutter, like Blackwell, is a good first step.

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