With Democrats in Washington D.C. pushing for massive tax hikes on American families, their party’s Ohio gubernatorial candidates should admit whether they will follow suit. Last week, Congressional Democrats released a comprehensive tax hike plan, promising to increase income taxes, business taxes, and the death tax, should they secure majorities in Congress this November.
This raises new questions for the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidates in Ohio, Richard Cordray, Dennis Kucinich, Bill O’Neill, and Joe Schiavoni. For months, Cordray has railed against recent federal tax cuts by the GOP, calling them an “abomination” while Kucinich spent decades in Congress voting for tax hikes on American families. But so far, none of these candidates have come out specifically in favor or against the proposals put forward by Congressional Democrats.
If these candidates want to pursue Ohio’s highest office, voters deserve to know whether they will support efforts by Democrats to raise their taxes. Will they stand up to their party’s assault on the middle class, or will they stand up for Ohio taxpayers?
This week, Congressional Democrats released a detailed tax hike plan that they promised to implement if given majority control of the House and Senate after the 2018 midterm elections. So much for the crocodile tears about the deficit–Democrats want to raise taxes not to reduce the debt, but rather to spend that tax hike money on boondoggle projects.
Up until this year, the United States labored under the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world. As a result, jobs and capital were fleeing America for more normal tax rates that could be found in tax havens like France and China (saracasm font very much activated). Finally, after many years of bipartisan consensus that the U.S. corporate rate had become an impediment to attracting new jobs and investment, Congress cut the rate all the way from 35 to 21 percent. Even doing that only puts us in the middle of the pack of developed nations, but that’s a heck of a lot better than dead last.
Instead of figuring out how to raise taxes, Congressional Democrats would do better to work in a bipartisan manner to make the middle class and pro-jobs tax relief just passed into law permanent. A rising tide lifts all boats.
