Ohio Republicans for Tax Cuts?

From the Dispatch...

Ohio House Republicans expect to begin hearings in July on a bill that would significantly cut state taxes on investments. At the same time the GOP candidate for governor, J. Kenneth Blackwell, is on the campaign trail stressing his desire to cut taxes.

In a coordinated election-year effort for Republicans to push an anti-tax message, the House Ways and Means Committee plans to take up a bill that would phase in a capital-gains tax cut over three years.

Few committees meet during the summer, generally a slow time for legislative action around the Statehouse. Sally C. Kilbane, a Rocky River Republican and com- mittee chairwoman, said she does not have a timetable for moving the bill.

Gov. Bob Taft and Senate President Bill M. Harris, RAshland, said they have not been involved in discussions about any capital-gains tax cut proposal.

But Blackwell’s campaign, including Rep. Tom Raga, of Mason, the lieutenant governor candidate, is up to speed and has had input into the plan.

"I’m fully aware of what they’re doing, and it’s an accelerator of what I’m trying to accomplish," Blackwell said, referring to his plan to create a lower, flat state income tax. "It allows us to cut the capitalgains tax faster."

Lowering the tax, Blackwell said, will help slow down the exodus of wealthy Ohioans from the state.

"We’re on the same page," he said of himself and House Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering. "We’ve looked for ways to effectively accomplish the objectives we both have laid out."

The campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland offered no comment.

This would be great if passed. Less penalties for those who take a risk and invest their money.