Taylor promotes Common Sense Initiative

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Ohio Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor was at The Hotel Marsh in Van Wert on Tuesday to, first of all, help some local businesses solve problems they have with state government, but also to talk about the Common Sense Initiative (CSI) that she and Governor John Kasich’s administration developed to lower taxes and eliminate regulations that adversely affect job creation.

“CSI: we all probably immediately think about the TV show, but CSI in Ohio is our effort to get rid of those job-killing regulations,” Taylor said. “Make sure we understand them, investigate them and make them go away, because ultimately we restore prosperity in Ohio by giving Ohioans an opportunity for a good job.”

“I want to get out in the communities across our state and make sure we are listening and make sure we understand the roadblocks or the barriers that are preventing our small business owners from being successful or creating new jobs,” she added.

Taylor, the first certified public accountant (CPA) elected to high state office when she became Ohio Auditor of State in 2007, also served a term as a state representative from 2003-2007.

It’s also that business background that drives her efforts with CSI, as well as her leadership of the Ohio Department of Insurance. She noted that part of the problem is Ohio’s reputation as a hard state in which to do business.

“Ohio is not known across the country as a positive state to do business,” the lieutenant governor said. “Taxes are higher than they are in many other states, regulations are overly burdensome at times and there is not a culturing attitude that says ‘we want to help you, instead of stand in your way.’”

Tort reform and reforming the state’s problematic worker’s compensation program are also priorities, the lieutenant governor said.

Taylor’s trips across the state are part of the Kasich administration’s efforts to explain CSI to local business and government leaders, while also receiving input from local residents on what types of initiatives they would like to see in state government.

She also noted that the Kasich administration is also looking at return on investment (ROI), when using tax revenues for a particular project. “Are they ROI positive?”, Taylor explained, meaning the money spent would have to be offset by revenues generated by the project.

The lieutenant governor also addressed an issue raised at Monday night’s Van Wert City Council meeting related to the possibility of implementing centralized municipal income tax collections, noting that there is no real proposal to do so at this point.

“There is no proposal out there,” Taylor said. “We’re really in an early, early stage of having a conversation about how to make businesses more competitive.”

She also addressed City Council’s concern that state centralized tax collections would violate communities’ right to home rule.

“Our communities have home rule, they’ll continue to have that,” the lieutenant governor said. “We’re not looking to interfere with that, but what we are looking to do is say ‘can we sit down at a table and start the conversation … of how we might get to a point where this is one more barrier we were able remove from our businesses being successful.”