Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has called for raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21, a proposal that’s included in Ohio’s biennial budget bill. But anti-smoking groups in the state have actually testified against the proposal. These groups believe that the proposal would mostly punish youth…
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Ohio House Passes Tax Increases on Small Businesses During Small Business Week
The Ohio House passed House Bill 166 Thursday, its version of the state’s biennial budget. While the bill includes substantial income tax reductions, some groups aren’t pleased with the impact it will have on small businesses. Under the bill, Ohio’s Business Investment Income Deduction would be lowered to $100,000.…
Read MoreDeWine Proposed Budget Includes New Taxes for Ohio’s Tattoo Artists and Body Piercers
Governor Mike DeWine’s proposed budget for Ohio includes a provision that will raise taxes and regulations on all tattoo artists and body piercers throughout the state. The new provision would require that all current and future tattoo artists and body piercers register with the state for as long as they…
Read MoreOhio Future Foundation’s Chairman Jim Renacci Hosts Facebook Live Budget Forum with State Rep. Powell and Buckeye State Fellow Greg Lawson
The Ohio Future Foundation hosted a wide-ranging Facebook live interview that reviewed the March 15 budget biennial 2020-2021 proposed by Governor DeWine. Ohio Future Foundation Chairman Jim Renacci was joined by Republican State Representative Jena Powell of Ohio’s 80th district and Senior Fellow Greg Lawson of the Buckeye Institute, a…
Read MoreLawmakers Eye a Huge Backdoor Spending Increase
by David Ditch Members of Congress are promoting the concept of changing three programs from the discretionary category (requiring annual appropriations) into mandatory (auto-pilot) spending. Such changes would become a huge backdoor spending increase. Spending limits have come under relentless attack from both parties. In 2013, 2015, and 2018,…
Read MoreSmoking Age Will Jump to 21 Under DeWine Budget
In a move to improve health quality in the state, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has included a provision in his proposed 2020-2021 Executive Budget that would increase the age for purchasing cigarettes from 18 to 21. The intent is to further discourage the use of cigarettes overall throughout the…
Read MoreOhio Senate Breaks Even Further from Governor DeWine, Lowering Gas Tax to Six Cents
The Republican-held Ohio Senate joined Republicans in the House of Representatives in opposing Gov. Mike DeWine on his proposed gas-tax hike. House Bill 62 (HB 62), the 2020-21 Ohio transportation budget, first proposed by DeWine on Feb. 12, originally called for an 18 cent increase to the current gas tax. This was…
Read MoreOhio Governor Mike DeWine Cites Bible in Budget Proposal That Increases Spending by Seven Percent
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) released his first two-year budget proposal Friday morning in what he is describing as a $69 billion investment in “Ohio’s future.” “As I shared in my State of the State address, the Bible tells us that there is a time and a place for everything. Now…
Read MoreDeWine Budget Calls for Raising Minimum Age to Buy Cigarettes to 21
Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R-OH) first budget proposal calls for raising the minimum age to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21. “The first proposed change is a health policy initiative that would raise the legal age to purchase cigarettes from 18 years old to 21,” the 676-page…
Read MoreGovernor DeWine Blasts Republican Controlled House for Lowering Gas Tax Proposal
Governor Mike DeWine aggressively condemned his fellow Republicans Monday for not supporting his gas tax increase in a candid interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial Board. During the interview, he accused them of outright endangering the safety of Ohioans statewide by not supporting his plan. DeWine, in one of…
Read MoreDeWine Praised by Democrats for Giving ‘Democratic State-of-the-State’
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) recently delivered his first State of the State address, and Democrats in attendance loved what they heard. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley attended the occasion and was surprised at what she was hearing from the new Republican governor. “When a Republican governor gives a Democratic state-of-the-state speech,…
Read MoreOhio Governor Mike DeWine Announces Plan for 30 New Drug Courts to Combat Opioid Epidemic
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine unveiled the latest aspect of his plan Tuesday to fight opioid addiction by creating more specialty courts statewide. The plan is the latest announced component of his upcoming budget proposal for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. If approved, it would allocate $2.5 million in 2020 for the creation of “15 specialty…
Read MoreReport: Returning State Tax Surplus to Ohioans Could Create 2,100 New Jobs
The Buckeye Institute, an established think tank based in Ohio, has released its latest economic report, assessing the current state of economic affairs in Ohio and making recommendations to improve the overall financial health of the state. In the report, The Buckeye Institute discovered that the current state budget surplus could create…
Read MoreOhio Governor DeWine to Announce Gas Tax Hike
At an annual forum sponsored by the Associated Press, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday he intends to formally recommend raising the current gas tax. The recommendation will come as he introduces his first two-year transportation budget on Friday. Despite appointing an Advisory Committee on Transportation Infrastructure Issues specifically to explore…
Read MorePresident Trump’s Executive Order Freezing Federal Pay Saves Taxpayers from Double-Digit Pay Increases
by Rachel Greszler President Donald Trump issued an executive order effectively freezing federal pay for 2019 at current 2018 levels. Had the president not issued this executive order (and lacking congressional action on federal pay), federal workers would have received a 2.1 percent across-the-board pay increase, as well as a…
Read MoreCommentary: Only Two Weeks Left for Republicans to Get It
by Rachel Bovard There’s only one area where bipartisanship still reigns in Washington: avoidance. Republican and Democrat leaders this week held hands and used the funeral events for President George H. W. Bush as an excuse to move their funding deadline—which previously expired on December 7—two weeks forward, to December…
Read MoreREPORT: EPA Paid $14.5 Million For Foreign Nationals, Not Americans, To Work In Government Labs
by Michael Bastach The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) paid $14.5 million to foreign nationals to work at agency laboratories over the past 11 years that could have been awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, according to federal investigators. EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found the agency’s cooperative…
Read MoreWith the End of the Fiscal Year September 30, Congress Is Running Out of Time to Fund ‘The Wall’
By Robert Romano The 2018 fiscal year will end on Sept. 30 but Congress is no closer to achieving key Trump administration priorities including fully funding the southern border wall, something President Donald Trump has been demanding since 2017 and campaigned on extensively in 2016. So far, both the House…
Read MoreThree Budget ‘Reforms’ That Would Make Matters Worse, Not Better
by Dody Eid and Romina Boccia A congressional select committee on reforming the budget process recently held another public hearing, supposedly with the ultimate aim of designing a more transparent, accountable, and responsible budgetary process. Any such changes should also re-establish and enhance Congress’ power of the purse. But if those are…
Read More‘Pig Book’ Spotlights 232 Earmarks Amid Pork That Wastes Taxpayers’ Money
by Katherine Rohloff All but a relative few farmers and other rural residents have had electricity and telephone service for a generation, but the U.S. government devoted $10 million in the current budget to a duplicative Rural Utilities Service program designed to help pay for energy costs. Taxpayers continue to finance the…
Read MoreThe Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds Are Nearly Depleted
By Robert Romano 2026. That is when the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund will be depleted, according to the Board of Trustees for the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds. That is down from 2029. After that, the share of benefits paid for by revenues will drop until…
Read MoreNashville Metro Council Asks Citizens to Critique Future Budgets
Nashville residents soon will have a voice in Metro Council’s spending habits. Metro Council voted 34-4 to create a “Blue Ribbon Commission” like a popular one in Atlanta in which private citizens may critique the budget, Nashville Public Radio WPLN reports. The commission will form by October. Councilman Fabian Bedne…
Read MoreSenate Fails to Pass the Rescission Package
By Printus LeBlanc When President Donald Trump signed the omnibus spending bill back in March, he did so reluctantly. The swamp knew the President’s feelings for the military and hid behind them to fill the omnibus with wasteful spending. The President signed it, hoping some of the spending would be…
Read MoreCongress Can Cut Billions in Wasteful Spending by Following This Blueprint
by Romina Boccia The Senate Budget Committee met May 23 to consider the Government Accountability Office’s annual report on Government Efficiency and Effectiveness, which identifies areas of unnecessary overlap, fragmentation, and duplication among federal programs. The Government Accountability Office supplements that identification of waste with recommendations of what to do about it, presenting…
Read MoreTrump’s ‘Rescission’ Package Would Save Unspent Tax Dollars
by Justin Bogie President Donald Trump on Tuesday submitted a special message to Congress requesting that $15 billion in unspent funding be rescinded. That’s a good first step toward re-establishing fiscal responsibility. Congress should embrace it and quickly adopt the president’s rescission package. Still, the package does nothing to claw back the…
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