Just days after Republican Senators unveiled their new two-year budget with some substantial cuts, Senate Democrats presented a plan of their own. And this one is drastically different than the one that’s likely to pass the GOP controlled Senate next week. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports.
Democrats in the Senate say the Republican budget proposal puts the cost of running state government on Ohioans who are the least able to afford it. Senator Kenny Yuko uses the analogy of a burning house to outline the difference in the plan from his caucus and the one unveiled by Republicans earlier this week.
“We have one plan that calls for a can of gasoline and one plan that calls for some water. We’re here to tell you that we’ve got the fire hose on our side.”
The Democrats’ plan calls for suspending a tax cut that allows many small businesses to deduct income up to $250,000. They say that will save the state more than two billion dollars that can be invested into schools, Medicaid and local governments. And they say their bill won’t give those most able to pay income taxes a break at the expense of lower wage earners who can least afford it.
