When Taxpayers Win, Ted Strickland And Sherrod Brown Lose

from the Columbus Disgrace

WASHINGTON — In a move likely to spark a searing debate in the Ohio races for governor and senator, the U.S. Senate yesterday approved a bill that extends investors’ tax reductions until 2010 and shields millions of Americans with above average incomes from a tax increase.

The Senate vote, 54-44, came a day after the House passed an identical bill. It now goes to President Bush for his signature. It will save taxpayers $70 billion during the next five years.

The votes provide Bush with a major political victory at a time when his job-approval rating is at the lowest level of his presidency.

But the tax bill also highlights a deep split between Ohio Republicans and Democrats on the issue of cutting taxes when the federal government is running $300 billion annual deficits.

Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, voted for the bill and a spokesman for Republican gubernatorial nominee J. Kenneth Blackwell praised its passage. Rep. Ted Strickland, of Lisbon, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, and Rep. Sherrod Brown, of Avon, who is challenging DeWine, voted against the measure.

That "shields millions of Americans with above average incomes from a tax increase" is a reference to the "alternative minimum tax." It was created as a way to make sure government gets to tax wealthier people even more than they already do. But surprise, surprise!- Every year, the alternative minimum tax slowly evolves into a tax that more middle class americans have to pay.

And seriously... the capital gains tax is double taxation. You DO NOT encourage investment or economic growth by punishing investors so much. Someone needs to send Brown and Strickland an economics textbook asap.

The opposition to rather mild tax cuts, the support for this Ohio minimum wage increase effort and the obvious lack of understanding of basic economics by Ohio Democrats show the true failure of Ohio's public education system.