Get PolitiFact in your inbox.

New budget presented, but no movement yet on state income tax repeal

Mark Naymik
By Mark Naymik April 14, 2011

When John Kasich announced his bid for governor in June 2009, he generated attention with his bold pledge to eliminate the state's income tax, which he said makes Ohio unattractive to businesses and residents.

"We'll march over time to destroy that income tax that has sucked the vitality out of this state," Kasich said during his kick-off event from his hometown of Westerville.

He played up the issue again during a campaign Webcast on Aug. 26, 2009.

"Phase out the income tax," he said. "It's punishing on individuals. It's punishing on small business. To phase that out, it cannot be done in a day, but it's absolutely essential that we improve the tax environment in this state so that we no longer are an obstacle for people to locate here and that we can create a reason for people to stay here."

It was one of several promises about shrinking government and taxes the Republican made during the campaign that reflect his conservative politics.

Since taking office in January, Kasich has used his bully pulpit and the political muscle of a Republican-controlled legislature to revamp the state's Department of Development, pass a controversial law that changes Ohio"s collective bargaining rules for public workers and propose a state budget that closes a nearly $8 billion revenue gap.

But 100 days (April 19, 2011) into his administration, Kasich hasn't said much about his promise to eliminate the state's income tax – which generates about 40 percent of the state's revenue. Nor has he floated any proposals to cut it.

His budget plan, however, helps him deliver on the related tax promise to no longer delay the final year of a five-year, 21 percent income tax reduction that was promised to Ohioans as part of a 2005 tax overhaul. In 2009, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland – with the backing of the legislature – put that final phase of the tax cut on hold to close an $800 million budget hole. Kasich called such a move a tax hike and pledged to unfreeze it.

While Kasich's budget plan does that, it does not advance the goal of phasing out further the state's income tax, even into the second year of the two-year budget plan.

Kasich says he hasn't abandoned the goal and has floated the idea of revisiting the budget next year, which could include tax cuts.

But given the lip service Kasich gave to the issue in the early part of his campaign, the omission is hard to ignore.

That why on the Kasich-O-Meter, we tag this campaign promise as Stalled.
 

Our Sources