PD: "GOP in Ohio House Wants To Kill Estate Tax"

In pertinent part from the article (you can read it here), first, how much we're talking about statewide (remember, we're being told that the state deficit is $8-11 billion):

Batchelder, of Medina, said a bill to repeal the estate tax -- a concept Kasich supports -- along with several other bills to help create jobs will be introduced in the next couple of weeks.

An advocate for Ohio cities, however, said abolishing the estate tax would hurt local governments. The tax is levied on the net value of an estate before its assets are transferred to anyone else. It generated nearly $334 million in fiscal 2009, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation. About $270 million of that went to municipalities.

"If the state chooses to repeal that, what we would like to see is some source of revenue that would make up for that money," Ohio Municipal League Deputy Director John Mahoney said. "To just do away with it and pull the rug out from underneath us is unfair."

What's next?

As for the estate tax, Batchelder said there are options.

The legislature could abolish the tax, municipalities could be given the right to decide whether the tax applies within their borders, or elimination of the tax could be put before voters. Batchelder said he prefers to abolish the tax.

Maggie Ostrowski, spokeswoman for Senate President Tom Niehaus, a Republican from New Richmond, said a number of senators support the estate tax repeal and Niehaus will discuss the issue with Batchelder.

Again, I say, our five-year budget projections must zero-out the estate tax revenue line and reduce the local government fund contribution or we are kidding ourselves.  We should also give extremely serious consideration to funding the reserve fund we've created, now, not later, even if it's with a token amount.  It is withdrawable if need be.