Reuters: Politics: Ohio governor signs budget including tax cut, anti-abortion provision

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Ohio governor signs budget including tax cut, anti-abortion provision Jul 1st 2013, 03:08 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Texas governor slams state lawmaker who stalled abortion bill Thu, Jun 27 2013 Texas governor mounts new bid for abortion restrictions Wed, Jun 26 2013 Republican battles over Medicaid turn to God and morality Wed, Jun 26 2013 Texas House passes sweeping abortion restrictions Mon, Jun 24 2013 Analysis & Opinion U.S. Republican battles over Medicaid turn to God and morality David Cameron takes on the tax havens Ohio Governor John Kasich speaks during the CERAWEEK global energy conference in Houston March 7, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Donna W. Carson CLEVELAND | Sun Jun 30, 2013 11:08pm EDT CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ohio's governor signed a two-year, $62 billion state budget on Sunday that seeks to spur economic growth with a reduction in personal income taxes and includes a provision that critics say will tighten restrictions on abortions in the state. The budget, which was passed by a Republican-majority state legislature, includes a $2.6 billion reduction in personal income taxes which will be gradually lowered by a total of 10 percent over three years. The tax cuts will be offset in part by an increase in the state sales tax rate to 5.75 percent from 5.5 percent. The budget also includes a 50 percent tax break for small-business owners on their first $250,000 of income filed on personal tax filings. Republican Governor John Kasich also left in place a controversial abortion provision added to the proposed budget bill at the last minute. The provision effectively strips funding from Planned Parenthood, blocks public hospitals from arranging transfer agreements with abortion clinics and requires abortion providers to provide ultra sounds on women seeking abortions. It also allows public funding for rape crisis clinics to be suspended if they counsel victims on abortion options. Ohio has 12 clinics that perform abortions and opponents of the law say the new regulations could force many clinics to close. "Today Governor Kasich enacted measures that prescribe medically unnecessary procedures, force doctors to mislead their patients and will force quality medical centers to close," said Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio. Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, praised Kasich's decision. "Our motivation for pushing the law was so that state tax dollars are not used to fund abortions," he said. Ohio joins several other states, including Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, where anti-abortion activists have focused their efforts pushing for new state restrictions on the procedure. The budget will go into effect on Monday. (Reporting by Kim Palmer, Editing by Kevin Gray and Christopher Wilson) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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