Ohio House GOP Isn't Dead Either

Another story that I have seen time and again the last week or so is how the Republicans in the Ohio House have surrendered too. This story is being told like this: Since the Republicans have such a slim majority in the Ohio House, this session isn't going to be very productive because a number of GOPers are absent and a few more aren't reliable votes. This just isn't the case at all. Want proof? Here it is...courtesy of the Columbus Dispatch:

Deciding how to re-regulate Ohio's electricity industry will top the fall agenda, and GOP leaders have said they also want to clarify state gambling law in order to ban the electronic wagering machines that are popping up across the state.

How many bills join the list is undecided.

"We have to wait and hear what the answers are from our members," said Karen Tabor, spokeswoman for Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering. "We are trying to figure out what our fall agenda is."

Now, we can argue about whether or not Ohio ought to re-regulate the electricity industry. The manufacturing industry in this state doesn't appear all that happy with the idea, but I'm willing to see what comes of the idea in the legislature before I denounce the idea entirely.

And the gambling ban isn't an issue that I'm all that jazzed about either...

But what I offer up as proof that the GOP is staging a comeback is that there is an effort to kill the death tax...

A Quinnipiac University Poll in March found that almost two-thirds of Ohioans want the estate tax lowered or eliminated. It is assessed on estates worth more than $338,000, affecting about 7,500 Ohio estates each year.

House Republicans, who hold a slim majority, have been asked which of two estate-tax proposals they like better. House Bill 3 by Rep. Robert E. Latta, R-Bowling Green, would eliminate the estate tax unless local governments vote to continue it, and it would raise the threshold to $600,000 by 2010.

House Bill 4, sponsored by Rep. Larry Wolpert, R-Hilliard, would increase the amount of estate tax collected by local governments by no longer allowing the state to keep 20 percent of the tax, costing the state at least $60 million a year.

The bill also would increase the tax threshold to $362,000 and allow local governments to no longer impose the tax.

"We have got to do something with death taxes in this state," Latta said. "It's a major issue if you talk with any of the business groups."

Strickland opposes any estate-tax cut in light of the tight budget, spokesman Keith Dailey said. House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, also opposes a cut.

"From everything I've looked at, this is something that only touches 2 percent of the population," Beatty said. "The argument that people are fleeing Ohio because of this, I find that very hard to believe."

Based on these descriptions, I'd have to say that Latta's HB3 appears to be the better bill (and a boost in the ratings for his bid to succeed Rep. Gillmor in Congress). But the important thing to see here is that Strickland hates the idea of reducing or eliminating this tax and the Republicans are going forward anyway.

And check out that quote from Beatty... Joyce, Ohioans want a piece of the American Dream. If you Ohio Democrats keep insisting on taxing us to death, Ohioans are going to seek the American Dream elsewhere. How out of touch do you have to be to fight against a tax cut that even the Quinny poll shows that about two-thirds of Ohioans want? But that is the Ohio Democratic Party for you...