Republicans can find revenue to support Dewine’s proposed budget

The two-year budget proposed by Gov. Mike Dewine is encouraging in the priority it gives to Ohio’s future — the millions of children who need help to grow up safe, healthy and prepared for good jobs.

The largest single budget item — $900 million to bolster the condition of Lake Erie and other state waters in the next decade — provides for another essential element of a healthy future.

The Ohio House and Senate will have their way with Dewine’s budget and most likely will move to cut some of his proposed spending increases. But the initiatives are sorely needed. Ohio kids who are poor or disabled continue to perform poorly overall in school, limiting their chances to work their way out of poverty.

Dewine was wise enough not to bother inventing a new formula for basic state education aid, because the legislature inevitably will do that. Instead, the governor aims to apply $550 million over two years directly to the programs already shown to help struggling students: “wrap-around” services such as physical and mental-health counseling, mentoring and after-school programs.

Giving $74 million more each year to county children services agencies could and should go to help ease the crushing caseloads that leave child welfare caseworkers and investigators, especially in Ohio’s poorest counties, overwhelmed to the point of PTSD.

With the H2ohio waterquality program, Dewine wants to start with $85 million to help Ohio farmers use less of the fertilizers that threaten public water supplies and recreation with algae blooms. The assistance for farmers should be backed up with legislation making better fertilizer practices mandatory.

H2ohio has earned praise from conservation groups for including a longer-term fix for Ohio waterways: creating and restoring wetlands that naturally filter out sediment and excess fertilizer.

As lawmakers consider Dewine’s budget, it’s fair to question the revenue estimates the administration is counting on to pay for the proposed spending increase of $2.8 billion.

Budget Director Kimberly Murnieks is confident that tax revenue will grow by 6.7 percent — enough to support spending 3.6 percent more in the first budget year and 4.8 percent more in the second. But the forecast from the Legislative Service Commission is less robust, suggesting that lawmakers should carve out $705 million from Dewine’s budget request.

Even if the lower numbers are right, the General Assembly doesn’t have to sacrifice the necessary investments Dewine proposes. A few smart changes in tax policy would raise more than enough to ensure the proposals can be paid for.

The most obvious is the “small business” tax deduction, which is illogically applied to self-employed professionals and others who aren’t likely to create jobs or make investments that boost the economy.

This generous tax break serves little public purpose but costs state coffers an estimated $1.1 billion per year. Republicans should reconsider their refusal to change it.

Others say the state should move to collect sales tax on Ohioans’ internet purchases from out-ofstate vendors in the wake of last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that such collections are constitutional. Tax Commissioner Jeff Mcclain says that could raise between $350 million and $800 million per year.

Republicans have spent eight years cutting taxes in Ohio, and critical public services are feeling the strain. They can support desperately needed investment by just applying and collecting existing taxes fairly.