Ohio House Democratic Leadership Casts a No Vote for Ohio's Coal Families

/PRNewswire / -- Mike Carey, President of the Ohio Coal Association, today issued the following statement in response to the Ohio House of Representatives' passage of House Bill 1:

"Ohio House Speaker Armand Budish and House Democrats have approved a state budget bill that will have a devastating impact on Ohio's coal families.

"The so-called Energy Resource Extraction Fee contained in the House-approved version of the FY10-11 state budget bill is, plain and simple, a crippling new tax on coal production that could not come at a worse time for Ohio's coal industry or for the state's economy. If this onerous new tax ends up staying in the final version of the budget bill that the General Assembly sends to Governor Strickland, Ohio's coal industry will be forced to increase costs for consumers, scale back critical technology investments, cut coal production and eventually eliminate much-needed jobs in communities that are desperately short of employment opportunities.

"It's clear the Speaker and his caucus are out of touch with the hard-working Ohioans who have dedicated their lives to the coal industry, and who've made their living in one of Ohio's economically struggling regions -- Appalachia. Their decision to pass the budget bill with the Energy Resource Extraction Fee intact is a slap in the face to each and every one of these individuals -- and to the coal producers who've made major economic investments in the our state.

"To add insult to injury, District 93 State Rep. Jennifer Garrison (D-Marietta), whose constituents include thousands of Ohioans who depend on the coal industry for their livelihoods and represents the largest coal mine in Ohio, voted to table an amendment that would have protected Ohio's coal families by removing the Energy Resource Extraction Fee from the legislation.

"Ohio House Democrats have let us down. It is the Ohio Coal Association's strong hope the members of the Ohio Senate will correct the misguided choices of the House and do the right thing for the state's coal industry by removing the Energy Resource Extraction Fee from the budget bill."

The Ohio Coal Association (OCA) is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of Ohio's underground and surface coal mining producers. The OCA represents nearly 40 coal producing companies and more than 50 Associate Members, which include suppliers and consultants to the mining industry, coal sales agents and brokers and allied industries. The Ohio Coal Association is committed to advancing the development and utilization of Ohio coal as an abundant, economic and environmentally sound energy source.

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Libertarian “Prosperity Plan” repeals income tax, ends corporate welfare

The Libertarian Party seeks to abolish the income tax, enact a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and eradicate corporate welfare under an ambitious three-point legislative plan unveiled by America’s third largest party Tuesday.

“Tens of millions of Americans are angry, fed up and demand real reform,” said William Redpath, Libertarian National Committee Chair. “The Libertarian Party is the only party that agrees with those tens of millions of Americans that government should stay out of both their pocketbook and their personal decisions.”

The “Libertarian Prosperity Plan” seeks to repeal the income tax and abolish the IRS, enact a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget without tax increases and repeal all corporate welfare programs and bailouts.

“The ‘Libertarian Prosperity Plan’ is rooted in the Libertarian Party platform and bedrock libertarian principles. Unlike the other parties, we don’t promise tax cuts to just grab enough votes to win and then do nothing. Elected Libertarians enact tax and spending cuts because it is what we believe in,” said Redpath.

The Libertarian Prosperity Plan can be read and downloaded at http://www.lp.org. The Plan would:

1) Repeal the income tax: Adopt legislation repealing the income tax and abolishing the Internal Revenue Service. Until the income tax is repealed, adopt legislation preserving the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and enacting across-the-board income tax cuts.

2) Adopt the Balanced Budget Amendment: Adopt a constitutional amendment requiring the federal budget be balanced, and balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, not by raising taxes.

3) Abolish corporate welfare and bailouts: Adopt federal legislation prohibiting any federal spending program that provides payments or unique benefits and advantages to specific companies or industries, terminating programs that provide direct grants to businesses, eliminating programs that provide research and other services for industries and ending programs that provide subsidized loans or insurance to businesses.

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