Our look at the campaign for governor this week runs from property taxes to the rights of transgender athletes to police union endorsements. We start with taxes.
Next to rising gas prices and grocery prices, property taxes have loomed as the symbol of affordability in Ohio. Thanks to rising property values and voter-approved levies, property taxes have risen sharply in Ohio over the last few years.
State lawmakers have done a little to limit the increases. A ballot effort to abolish property taxes has stalled.
And candidates for governor are laying out their plans.
Democrat Amy Acton has presented her plan to lower tax bills for some. Her plan calls for extending the homestead exemption, which helps low- to moderate-income seniors. She also proposes a rebate to low- and moderate-income Ohioans who see sharp increases in property taxes. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has promised to reduce property taxes across the board to levels from before the end of the pandemic. Neither candidate has said how they would make up for the reduction in local tax revenue.
Property tax relief is topic one this week. Here to discuss is WOSU-TV’s "Columbus on the Record" panel:
- Sarah Donaldson, statehouse reporter for Ohio Public Radio
- Maria Bruno, director of Ohioans Against Extremism
- Mark Weaver, Republican strategist
Snollygoster of the week
For the second week in a row, we give it to Sen. Bernie Moreno, Ohio's senior U.S. senator and a member of the world's greatest deliberative body, who had this question for Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the national COVID-19 response, at a nationally televised hearing of the U.S. Senate. Before we run the unedited clip, a warning: Moreno uses an f-word, and it is not Fauci or Fifth, as in the Fifth Amendment.
You know, there's not much more to say. But it got headlines. It went kind of viral. It certainly pleased the far right of his political base. Will it hurt him politically in a statewide race? He won't be tested for four years.
It is certainly worthy of our Snollygoster of the Week award.