CIN

An Ohio under Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald might include little or no tax cuts for the wealthy, money for universal preschool instead of for online, for-profit charter schools, and, maybe, some state money for the streetcar.

In an interview with The Enquirer’s editorial board, FitzGerald declined to give specific details on how he would pay for new state programs if he were to defeat Republican Gov. John Kasich in November’s election. The standard for a gubernatorial challenger is not to roll out a budget, but to outline priorities, he said.

“I’m not campaigning by saying the solution is that we’re going to raise taxes on people,” said FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County executive – a position much like mayor. “I think we can do a lot of these things living within our means right now. What I’m saying is I think our priorities are out of whack.”

FitzGerald and other Democrats have criticized the across-the-board income tax cuts Kasich and Republicans in the General Assembly passed into law last year. The tax cuts save larger sums of money for wealthy Ohioans, who pay more in taxes. The plan was paid for in part by a quarter of a percentage point increase in sales taxes, which hurts the poor, Democrats say. Meanwhile, they say, counties and towns miss out on state money that could go to schools, police and roads.

They also criticize Kasich for filling a post-recession state budget hole by taking away state money that local governments use for police, firefighters and community buildings.

FitzGerald said he believes towns, cities and townships should sit down together and work out ways to become more efficient, adding that Cuyahoga’s 52 municipalities are “too many.” But “the way to get a more efficient system is not to take their money away and put it all into your own budget,” he said.

Kasich has said his tax cuts, including an extra tax break for business owners, help stimulate the economy, especially by giving small-business owners more power to invest in their companies.

“Ed FitzGerald thinks tax dollars belong to the government and not to the people,” Ohio Republican Party spokesman Chris Schrimpf said. “Gov. Kasich is consistently trying to give money back, and Ed FitzGerald has opposed that every step of the way.”

Republicans point to recent federal revisions to jobs numbers, which show Ohio’s economy is much stronger than previous figures indicated. (Ohio’s unemployment rate in February fell to 6.5 percent, below the national average.)

Still, “most people in this state do not feel like the economy is improving,” FitzGerald said.

If he were to become governor, the state’s privatized economic development group, JobsOhio, would shed its secretive nature, FitzGerald said. Extra freedom from public records requests doesn’t help the group move faster and doesn’t encourage companies to work with the state, FitzGerald said. After all, those same companies work with cities and counties where their businesses will locate, he said, even though their local economic development groups usually have fewer secrecy provisions.

The best way to help the state’s economy grow is to invest more in education, FitzGerald said. He wants the state to consider universal preschool, which he says would cost the state about $500 million a year.

“That’s a lot of money, but you’d have to say, ‘Compared with what?’” he said. “If you (don’t) spend $200 million on failing, for-profit, online charter schools, you’re almost halfway there.”

FitzGerald said he was also open to spending more state money on local transportation, such as the $52 million for the Cincinnati streetcar promised under Gov. Ted Strickland, but which the Kasich administration decided not to provide.

“If there’s ways to have the state take on more of a share for those kinds of things, it’s something that I’ve fought for in my career, and I’m willing to do it again,” he said.

But do Ed FitzGerald’s priorities leave room for tax cuts?

“I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have had tax cuts if I was governor,” FitzGerald said. “But if we had had tax cuts, they would have been pointed towards the people that have suffered the most in this economy. And let’s face it: That is not people who are making a million dollars a year.” ⬛