Candidate for governor speaks out against Ohio proposed budget - 21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio -

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Democratic candidate for Ohio Governor, Ed Fitzgerald is criticizing the state budget saying increasing sales taxes will hit small businesses and working people the most.

Fitzgerald who is currently the Executive for Cuyahoga the largest county in Ohio stopped by W-F-M-J to talk about his vision for Ohio. The former Mayor and City Councilman of Lakewood tells us he has plenty of experience balancing budgets without raising taxes. He says the two year budget Governor John Kasich is expected to sign is NOT a real tax reduction for most families, but shifting taxes so the wealthiest in Ohio get a tax break of about 6-thousand dollars.

Fitzgerald says it's kind of like taking money out of one persons pocket and putting part of it in another pocket. The bottom line is most people in Ohio will see nothing or their taxes will end up going up. He says any advantage will be very very minimal adding what they're paying for is tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent in the state.

The father of four says in both two year budgets Kasich has taken money from local communities to put in the state budget. He says as a result the state's budget is the biggest in history, while local budgets have been hit the hardest with teachers, firefighters, and police officers being laid off. Fitzgerald was also an F-B-I Agent in Chicago, Illinois for 3 years.