Davidson and Taylor go after Obama on tax issue

Former Ohio House speaker and Republican National Committee co-chair Jo Ann Davidson, along with Ohio State Auditor Mary Taylor went after Barack Obama on taxes as Obama visited New Philadelphia and Dillonvale in Ohio Wednesday.

During a conference call with reporters, Davidson said that she was responding to Obama's positions and how they will affect the state of Ohio.

"Clearly ‘jobs' is one of our top issues," Davidson said. "And I have said repeatedly, and will repeat to you all this morning, that the positions that the Obama-Biden ticket have on these issues are not the ones that are going to help the economy in the state of Ohio. Clearly, what we need are those commitments and pledges that we are going to not increase taxes. That we're going to do our best to keep taxes low and decrease them, particularly those taxes that directly affect small businesses."

Davidson said that issues of taxes, whether on corporations or individuals, are "not the right way to help these small businesses to expand."

Davidson said that most small businesses pay their taxes as individuals and consequently Obama's claim that by taxing only people above a certain level of income his plan will not hurt the economy "is just not the case."

Davidson cited limited-liability corporations and people paying as subchapter S corporations, and paying as partnerships.

"If you want to say, ‘What can we do to stimulate jobs in Ohio?' It is less government spending," Davidson said. "It is less government regulation. It is less taxes and it is not creating a nationally controlled expensive health care system. And frankly for the state of Ohio it is not suggesting that we should increase taxes on coal and natural gas."

Davidson also criticized Obama and Biden for what she called their "unwillingness" to "embrace fully all of our avenues to go out there and lessen our dependence on foreign oil."

Taylor also jumped on the tax issue and said, "Ohio needs John McCain's pro-growth tax policy."

Taylor said that with the current level of taxes in Ohio, "the burden is already high enough."

"We can't afford increasing taxes federally," Taylor said. "Ohio tax payers had to work until April 17 of this year just to pay off their total federal, state and local tax burden for 2008. And again, what Ohio doesn't need is the proposed tax increases by the Obama-Biden ticket."

Taylor called small businesses vital to Ohio's economy and said that over 98 percent of Ohio's employer firms are small businesses "and they certainly can't afford to pay higher taxes."

Taylor said that "we need to support them and support the policies that allow them to continue to employ Ohioans, provide good jobs and be successful and compete in a world market."

Taylor said that she doesn't believe the Obama-Biden proposals are "what Ohio needs."

Davidson and Taylor also responded to what kind of advantage Obama will get from having statewide elected leaders such as Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown campaigning for him throughout the state as surrogates.

Davidson pointed to the fact that Strickland backed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary, and had questioned Obama's readiness to lead during that primary.

"I find, I guess in my mind that really takes away from his ability to be a really strong surrogate for Obama," Davidson said. "Those statements are on record. They're not anything that we said. They are statements that he made."

Taylor praised the Republican surrogates in Ohio speaking on behalf of the McCain-Palin ticket.

"We have a Republican party that's organized," Taylor said. "And we'll have a good ground game that matches what we had in '04. And I think it's going to be those individual, one-on-one, personal contacts where we have a good ground game that, ultimately, I think is what voters are looking for and what voters will respond to in Ohio."