OH-16: John Boccieri Calls for Cutting Taxes after Opponent Raised Them

Boccieri Proposes Middle Class Tax Cuts

Opponent Hiked Ohio Taxes after Failing to Pay His Own

In his final "Fairside Chat" on Monday at the Stark County Fair, congressional candidate John Boccieri (OH-16) announced a broad plan for middle class tax relief that would give every working family an income tax cut of up to $1,000 and help American families pay for college, care for children and aging relatives, and escape unfair tax penalties.

Boccieri said:

“It's time the tax cut talk turns to action for middle class families. We have a surprising situation in this race: A Democrat who’s calling for cutting taxes and a Republican with a clear record of raising them."

Boccieri's opponent, State Sen. Kirk Schuring, voted for two of the largest tax increases in Ohio's history during the Taft Administration [HB 95, 6/19/03; HB 66, 6/21/05]. He cast these votes even after failing to pay more than $18,000 of his own taxes. ["In campaigns, tax liens emerge as issue," The Politico, 7/23/08]

Boccieri Campaign Spokesman Bryan Collinsworth said:

"The difference is clear - Kirk Schuring hasn’t proposed a single tax cut to help the middle class. Instead, he’s voted to raise taxes on Ohio families after failing to pay his own."

In the state legislature, Boccieri has opposed Gov. Taft's massive tax increases, fought for lower property taxes, and passed a law protecting Ohio truckers from the gas tax hike that Schuring supported. Meanwhile, Schuring's record leaves little doubt that in Washington he would continue President Bush's pattern of giving tax breaks to corporations and Wall Street millionaires while shifting a larger share of the U.S. tax burden onto middle class families.

Boccieri added:

"It's time to put the middle class first again, and that means putting middle class tax cuts before more giveaways to corporate executives."

Boccieri will fight for middle class tax relief by supporting:

A $1000-per-year tax cut for working families
Permanent property tax relief
Tax refunds on care for children and aging parents
A tax cut for college tuition
Expanded tax breaks for homeowners
An improved Child Tax Credit
Expanded marriage penalty relief
A permanent fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax

Click here for the details of these tax cut proposals.

OH-16:"Where will you be in 2030?"

"We need to focus not on middle-east oil, but on mid-west innovation. ~ Senator Major John Boccieri(D-Alliance)

In July, John spoke about high gas prices and his energy solutions at a Canton gas station. You can watch video excerpts below:

After John has been talking for weeks about his solutions to our energy crisis, his opponent finally gave us a proposal of his own this weekend. But while John has offered serious policies to both reduce oil prices immediately and transition away from oil dependence as soon as possible, Kirk Schuring's "plan" is nothing but a page out of George W. Bush's failed playbook.

Just like President Bush, Schuring claims that opening ANWR and more of America's coastal waters to drilling is a "short-term" solution to high gas prices.

Here's our response:

If you liked the video and want to help us get John's energy message out, consider making a contribution of just $22 to our campaign -- one dollar for every year we'll have to wait until Kirk Schuring's "short-term" energy solution has any effect.

OH-16: John Boccieri "Schuring Will Cost Ohio $5 Billion at the Pump"

We've got a little food for thought, today. The Senator Major John Boccieri(D-Alliance) issued a statement on the ongoing battle over energy indepence. This more "smart policy" for Ohio's 16th Congressional District!

Schuring Will Cost Ohio $5 Billion at the Pump before “Energy Plan” Takes Effect

Canton, OH – Rather than providing bold solutions to begin immediately easing pain at the pump, Kirk Schuring has endorsed George W. Bush’s energy stance, which calls for Americans to sit back and wait 20 years while big oil companies prospect for new sources of oil.

In Sunday’s edition of the Canton Repository, Schuring said that opening new areas in ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling was a “short-term” solution that would “dramatically increase domestic energy production” and “have an immediate impact at the pump.”

Even George W. Bush’s Department of Energy projects that this approach “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030,” and that expanded drilling in both ANWR and offshore would boost domestic oil production by at most 4% twenty years from now. Experts predict that even that increase would be largely cancelled out by declining global supply.

“Middle class families can’t wait 20 years for lower gas prices, especially when Kirk Schuring’s gas tax hike is going to cost them an extra $5 billion at the pump between now and then,” Congressional Candidate John Boccieri (D-Alliance) said today.

“Instead of giving voters a serious plan to bring down oil prices and lower gas prices immediately, my opponent offers nothing but failed gimmicks straight from George W. Bush’s playbook.”

Without a single serious proposal for short-term relief, the Schuring/Bush energy “plan” is nothing more than a continuation of the last seven years of failed Washington policies that provide giveaways to the oil industry while Americans’ gas prices double. This comes as no surprise, given that Schuring has taken over $20,000 from oil companies and chaired George Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign in Stark County .

“We need swift, serious, far-reaching energy solutions,” Boccieri said. “To start relieving pain at the pump today, we should open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, drill on the 68 million acres of U.S. land and coastal waters that are already approved for drilling, and transition to alternative energy sources as soon as possible.”

We don't need George W. Bush's failed policy and Kirk Schuring's Tax Increase strangling OH-16 from The U.S. House of Representatives! We need real solutions that benefit the citizens of our district instead of big oil, special interest groups, and Washington lobbyists!