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Trim Spending In Ohio Budget

Ohio Gov. John Kasich says government spending will be put “under the microscope” to identify ways to cut the state’s two-year budget by $800 million. Let us hope so. One reason why state revenues are lagging is evidence Ohio taxpayers cannot afford to dig any deeper into their own pockets to fund government.

Revenue for the current biennial budget is lagging 3.7 percent behind projected levels, on which the budget was based. A particularly steep drop — 17 percent — has been seen in state income tax receipts.

Income taxes are based on how much people earn. Lower receipts mean many Ohioans are earning less than expected, are struggling themselves and cannot afford higher taxes.

With just weeks left in the current fiscal year, Kasich and lawmakers face a time crunch to find ways to reduce state spending. A new two-year budget needs to be in place by June 30.

One way to balance it is to dip into the state’s $2 billion “Rainy Day Fund,” the governor suggests. That ought to be nearly a last resort.

First, state agencies should be instructed to prepare restrained budget requests — not reflecting the steady growth in spending they have enjoyed for several years. During the five-year period between fiscal 2012 and the current year, state operations spending grew by about 22.5 percent. Many Buckeye State residents can only wish their incomes had increased that much.

Eight hundred million dollars is a lot of money, but in the context of the biennial budget, it is an achievable amount of savings. The current two-year budget is about $137.7 billion. Kasich’s $800 million cut would require state agencies to trim spending by just 0.6 percent.

Many Ohio families and businesses have had to shave their own spending by that or more. Surely the bureaucrats in Columbus can manage to do so, too — without retaliating against taxpayers by cutting back on services.

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