Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2009 > December > 22
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Budget squabble could delay tax refunds for some Ohioans
COLUMBUS — The lengthy Statehouse battle over how to fill an $851 million budget hole could delay state income tax refunds for some Ohioans who file paper returns.
Gov. Ted Strickland on Tuesday, Dec. 22, signed House Bill 318 that fills the hole by delaying a 4.2 percent income tax cut for two years. The legislature approved the plan last week, more than 80 days after introduction of the bill.
The Ohio Department of Taxation couldn’t finish work on tax booklets until agreement was reached. The booklets could be mailed out as late as Feb. 1, John Kohlstrand, department spokesman said.
The booklets usually are mailed out the first week in January, said Kohlstrand.
“The fastest way to get a refund is to go to our Web site (http://tax.ohio.gov),” said Kohlstrand.
The booklets should be posted to the site by the end of this week, he said.
Taxpayers will be able to start filing electronic turns on Jan. 11 by using one of the two Web-based filing systems on the site, Kohlstrand said.
The department processed about 5.4 million returns for 2008, including about 1.8 million filed on paper, he said. About 50,000 paper returns were filed in January and 47,000 of those filers sought a refund, Kohlstrand said.
The department prints 1.8 million booklets and mails 900,000 directly to taxpayers, said Kohlstrand. The other half goes to banks, post offices and libraries, he said.
The bill signed by Strickland means that $78 won’t be cut from the annual state tax bill for a family of four earning $60,000 a year.
The legislation also makes it easier for a local school district to qualify for a waiver from the requirement to provide all-day kindergarten starting next fall. In addition, the bill provides for three pilot projects at state universities using new construction methods that backers say will save millions of dollars.
The House passed the bill Oct. 21, it was delayed in the Senate until last week.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment |
Gov. Strickland signs bill to fill $851M budget hole
Gov. Ted Strickland on Tuesday, Dec. 22, signed House Bill 318, the tax cut freeze bill needed to fill an $851 million state budget hole.
The legislation delays for two years a 4.2 percent state income tax cut. It includes several other provisions, including pilot building projects at universities using construction methods that are supposed to save millions of dollars.
For a family of four earning $60,000 a year, the delay means $78 won’t be cut from their annual state tax bill.
“This bill balances the education budget and protects our schools from devastating cuts,” Strickland said in a press release.
“It advances construction reform at University System of Ohio institutions. And it affirms that education is the foundation of our plan to strengthen our economy and create opportunity for all Ohioans.”
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment |
Husted wants ‘transparency’ in campaign expenditures
When some well-known person appears on TV to endorse - or blast - a ballot issue, such as the recent casino plan, state Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, thinks voters should be able to find out if the spokesperson is getting paid.
“That may change their minds on the validity of that person’s endorsement,” Husted said on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
He said that he soon will introduce legislation to require that expenditures made by “so-called campaign sub-vendors” or third parties who act on behalf of a campaign, be disclosed publicly.
Currently, campaign committees can give money to a sub-vendor, such a a political consultant, to make expenditures for the committee. The campaign committee is not required to disclose how the consultant spent the money.
During the recent casino campaign, former Ohio Treasurer Mary Ellen Withrow, for example, appeared in TV ads endorsing the casinos but it’s not known whether she was paid, Husted said. Voters approved casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
Withrow, reached by phone, declined to answer whether she had been compensated.
Husted said the change should be made for future campaigns.
“I’m not picking a fight with the casino people,” said Husted.
Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for the pro-casino Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, declined to say how much he was paid.
“We followed the law,” said Tenenbaum. “If the law changed, we’d follow that law.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
Poll: Voters “mostly disapprove” of health care overhaul
With the Senate preparing for a possible Christmas Eve vote on health care overhaul, voters across the country “mostly disapprove” of the plan, 53-36 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
The poll also found voters disapproving of President Barack Obama’s handling of the health care issue, 56-38 percent.
On a third health care issue, voters opposed, by a 72-23 percent margin, using any public money from the health care overhaul to pay for abortions.
Here’s your chance to get in the health care debate:
Obama also got bad marks on the economy. Voters disapproved his handling of the economy, 51-44 percent and also disapproved how he is trying to create jobs, 56-37 percent.
However, they favored, by a 52-42 percent margin, the president’s plan to use $200 million left over from the bank bailout to pay for a new stimulus package to create jobs, rather than to reduce the deficit.
“While the Senate leadership reportedly has the votes to pass a health care overhaul plan this week, outside the (Washington) Beltway there appears to be weak support, both to what voters understand of the plan, and the need to pass the plan now,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
The poll was taken from Dec. 15 to Sunday, Dec. 20 with 1,616 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
