Governor Kasich says he wants a modest tax increase on oil/gas extraction ("severance") here in Ohio. If it happens, such revenue ought to be set aside for the inevitable, unplanned environmental costs. (Remember earthquakes in Youngstown?). But no, the Wonder-Guv insists this revenue would facilitate a state income tax cut. (Classic GOP mystery math -- curing supposed deficits by reducing income.)
Naturally, Ohio's whining oil and gas lobby is up in arms over the possible severance tax increase. "Woe is us! We thought Kasich was our boy. How could he do this to us?" And many of our Republican legislators are uncomfortable about imposing slightly higher costs on a favorite sugar daddy. Could they scuttle Kasich's plan?
On Sunday, Tom Suddes (the only respectable local columnist in the Dispatch) put it this way: "Governors come and go; Statehouse lobbies are eternal."
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