Bengals demand more taxpayer gifts

(Missing from Tax Hike Hartmann's Office)

Dear fellow tax hikers, first some in-house business to address.  Whoever has removed this week's Vodka supply from Commissioner Greg Hartmann's office needs to return it IMMEDIATELY!  We cannot expect Tax Hike Hartmann's office to do their job properly - sitting around all day eating, drinking like fish, and raising taxes - if they do not have the proper fluid replenishments available.  This material may be returned with no questions asked by Monday morning's staff meeting.  If not, a full investigation and discipline will commence.

Back to our normal duties, we were delighted to read that the Cincinnati Bengals are now demanding more concessions from Hamilton County.  The Bengals deserve more for the privilege of accepting our taxpayer funded stadium gift, the millions of operating subsidies per year that we provide, and the 4 victories that they produced this year.  This provides a fantastic opportunity for Tax Hike Hartmann and Todd Portune to raise some more taxes to pay for these goodies.

Mike Brown deserves this additional money.  Without Hamilton County taxpayers, Brown would have to pay for his own stadium, his own game day costs, and his own taxes for the stadium land.  Paying for his own expenses might cut into the tens of millions he banks each year.  Now, for the great job he does for the Bengals, he deserves even more taxpayer funds and we expect Portune and Tax Hike Hartmann to provide.

Tax Hike Hartmann has already broken his word to the voters once by repealing most of the Property Tax Rollback that was promised to Hamilton County homeowners.  That should only be the start.  We would like Tax Hike Hartmann to further raise property taxes, and to support Todd Portune's idea to raise the Sales Tax too.  Hamilton County's #1 priority is to enrich Mike Brown.  Now it's time to ante up again.  Tax us more!

Tax our Trash, says Leslie Ghiz

 (Steve Driehaus gets ready for bed)

Dear fellow tax hikers, it's the night of December 28th and Cincinnati still doesn't have a budget for 2011.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  With Cincinnati trying to close a huge budget shortfall, we plead with them to do the right thing - raise our taxes!

Leslie Ghiz is listening.  Our favorite Councilperson Leslie Ghiz has announced her support for a Trash Tax.  This is exactly what the city needs.  Our trash deserves to be taxed. (Note: that was not a reference to Simon Leis.)

Not only should Cincinnati tax our trash, but they should also raise the Income Tax, Property Tax, and any other tax currently implemented.  Cincinnati residents are undertaxed.  And we at Republicans for Higher Taxes applaud Leslie Ghiz for recognizing this. 

Jean Schmidt votes for higher taxes

Dear fellow tax hikers, recently we were very disappointed to see Congress vote to extend the tax cuts that were introduced during the Bush Administration.  We as Americans are undertaxed.  The government needs to raise taxes - all kinds of taxes -  to deliver us the big government we deserve.

In spite of our disappointment, we are extremely proud that our Congresswoman Jean Schmidt voted against continuing these tax cuts.  Her vote would have raised income taxes on every single American taxpayer starting in January.  We have endorsed Jean in all of her races, and this vote should help you to see why.

Jean Schmidt is one of the finest politicians we have ever endorsed.  As a State Representative, she voted for all of Bob Taft's tax increases.  As a Congressman, she voted for the $800 Billion Bailouts for Wall Street Billionaires.  And now, to pay for programs such as these bailouts, she has voted to raise income taxes on everyone.  We salute our tax-hiking hero, Jean Schmidt, for everything she has done to raise taxes and grow government.  Keep up the good work!

Virgil Lovitt criticizes Kasich for killing 3C plan

Dear fellow tax hikers, once again we have great reason to be proud of our 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt.  Today, Virg, our favorite Tax-and-Spend Republican, criticizes the decision made by our enemy, incoming Governor John Kasich for killing the Obama Administration's 3C rail line.  This would have allowed people to travel between Ohio's biggest cities at an average speed of 39 MPH. 

Virgil Lovitt knows that the government can do more with your money than you can.  That is why Virg strongly supports every tax increase and government spending program that comes before him.  Some people, like our conservative enemies, want the private sector and citizens to determine where our money goes.  But wiser folks, like Barack Obama and Virgil Lovitt, understand the benefits of central government planning. 

The 3C line would have helped Sharonville replenish its supply of prostitutes to help maintain its thriving prostitution industry.  Prostitutes struggling to make a living in other Ohio cities could have simply hopped the train and landed right in the heart of Sharonville.  We know that Mayor Lovitt will rebound from this poor decision of Kasich's and ensure his city's prostitution industry continues to move ahead. 

We have a great suggestion for Virg.  We encourage the city of Sharonville to raise taxes to build a state-of-the-art brothel.  This brothel would employ men and women on an equal-opportunity basis, and serve men, women, transgenders, and transexuals.  The city could turn a profit from this enterprise by establishing a modest tax on all revenues.  This would bring new meaning to the term, "gross revenues".  This economic development plan could happen without the support of our incoming miser of a Governor.

1997: Pete Bronson discusses Tax-and-Spend Republicans

Dear fellow tax hikers, you are going to love the latest little gem that we fantastic researchers have unearthed.  In 1997, former Enquirer columnist Pete Bronson wrote an article about the Tax-and-Spend Republicans of Hamilton County.  These were some of our finest days, fresh off of passing the legendary Stadium Sales Tax hike and the three Republican Commissioners Bob Bedinghaus, John Dowlin (RIP), and Little Tommy Neyer raising every other tax that they could. 

Bronson wrote:  

If Democrats have "tax and spend" disease, Republicans must get elephantiasis of the budget. They talk about cutting big government - but when they get behind the wheel of the Governaut they gas it up on high-octane taxes, round up their friends and take a road trip to Fat City.

That's right.   It is Republicans who passed the Stadium Sales Tax hike.  It is Republicans who supported two different jail taxes a few years ago.  It is Republicans, led by the great George Voinovich and Jo Ann Davidson, who tried to pass a statewide Sales Tax increase in 1998.  It is Republicans who voted for Bob Taft's Sales Tax increase, Gas Tax increase, and hotel tax increase.  And let's not forget about great local Republicans like Simon Leis, Leslie Ghiz, Virgil Lovitt, and Randy Smith, who have worked extremely hard to raise taxes locally. 

We are the party of higher taxes.  Greg Hartmann has realized this, and that's why he joined David Pepper to raise property taxes so more money can flow to the Bengals and Reds Industrial Complex.  The bad Republicans like Steve Chabot and Chris Monzel better watch themselves.  Now that Republicans are in control, we are going to get back to raising taxes and growing government and they better not get in our way. 

Tax Hike Hartmann Raises Property Taxes

Dear fellow tax hikers, Happy Winter Solstice Greetings to all of you!  One of our favorite parts of running this pro-tax movement is bringing converts to our side.  We are so proud to announce that our latest convert is Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann!  Your property taxes have just gone up, and without Tax Hike Hartmann's support it would not have been possible. 

When voters were lobbied to support the big Stadium Sales Tax hikes in 1996, they were promised that county homeowners would receive a sizeable property tax rollback.  Well, promises are made to be broken.  The Sales Tax revenues aren't coming in as expected and the Commissioners need some money.  We completely concur with their decision to break their word to the lowly taxpayers.  After all, who cares what they think? 

We cannot expect the County Commissioners to break their promises to important people, like the ones who receive this money.  No, instead they needed to break their promise to county homeowners.  The purpose of homeownership is to provide a taxing mechanism to give more money to important people like Mike Brown, and to fund important projects like giving Mr. Brown his very own stadium.  Without this necessary tax increase, Mike Brown might have had to pay for his own team's operating expenses, pay market rent to the stadium's owners, or even allow the county to impose a ticket surcharge so that the users of the stadiums would have to pay for more of the costs. 

Thankfully, we have Tax Hike Hartmann and David Pepper to ensure that homeowners will pay these costs themselves. 

We saw where Greg Hartmann said he would cut some levies to make up for this.  Yeah, ok there Greg.  Tax Hike Hartmann has already shown that he will break his promises to the taxpayers, so we tax hikers know not to worry about this promise of his. 

Those levies will never be cut.  County levies are like your mother-in-law.  They will always be around, for as long as they want no matter how much anyone wants to get rid of them.  (Now unlike many, I happen to love my Civil Domestic Partner's mommy.  She is perfect in every way, except for her vag unit.)  Back to the levies, Hartmann himself knows there is little to cut for them because of the strong support that we tax hikers have built for them.  Hartmann knows to make promises to the conservative crowd.  But as we saw last week, a Greg Hartmann promise to taxpayers is made to be broken.  Welcome to our movement Greg!

Connie Pillich for State Rep

Dear fellow tax hikers, two years we were distraught when our 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt was defeated by Connie Pillich.  But we tax hikers can admit when we were wrong about someone, and we have to admit that Pillich has very quickly developed into one of Southwest Ohio's finest tax hikers.  Let's review the Connie Pillich record:

1)  Supported $1.5 billion of fee increases, after Governor Strickland admitted that fee increases are tax increases.  "Gov. Ted Strickland told The Dispatch, 'I think higher fees are higher taxes."  We concur, and that's why we are so proud of Pillich for voting for these important fee/tax increases.

2)  Not content with raising those fees, Pillich then voted to raise Ohio's Income Taxes by $900 million. 

3)  Supported sending another $3.1 million of taxpayer funds to The Freedom Center.  The fact that Connie received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the Pepper family does not mean that Pillich's vote is for sale.

4)  Publicly campaigned for the last Diane Adamec property tax levy.

5)  Not content to raise taxes in her own school district, Connie actually campaigned for a huge property tax increase in the Winton Woods School District, where she neither lives nor works.

6)  A true feminist, Connie Pillich chose to keep her maiden name, vowing to never take the name of a dirty man!

While we would have been ecstatic had Virgil Lovitt won this race 2 years ago, we acknowledge that Connie has more than exceeded our expectations.  Pillich has been a reliable vote for the tax-and-spend Governor Ted Strickland.  She has become one of Southwest Ohio's finest tax hikers.  For that, she deserves re-election to the Ohio House so she can keep raising our taxes.  Re-elect Connie Pillich!

Top Republicans criticize Sheriff Leis

Dear fellow tax hikers, we know you are as upset as we are that some of our county Republicans leaders have dared to criticize our great Sheriff Simon Leis for supporting Democrats, and for supporting huge tax increases and spending sprees.  Those are bad Republicans.  Around here, what Simon Says goes.  Leis is the dictator who shall never be questioned, and he will retaliate against any Republican who disagrees with him by supporting a Democrat at the next election. 

Simon Leis has endorsed Democrat David Pepper.  Leis has endorsed Democrat Todd Portune.  Leis has donated to Democrat Jim Tarbell.  Leis is doing this to punish those Republicans who will not obey his directives.  In the name of party loyalty, all good Republicans should support these Democrats.

Like Leis, we have also chosen to endorse Jim Tarbell because he is the candidate of higher taxes and streetcars.  Tarbell supported the 30 year Transit Sales Tax increase.  Tarbell has opposed Monzel's city property tax rollback.  Tarbell wants to raise property taxes countywide.  And Tarbell has strongly supported the streetcar while miser Monzel wants to kill it.  Just like us, Leis and ALL good Republicans are supporting Democrat Jim Tarbell due to his support for these big government programs.

It is vital that all of us great Republicans join together to defeat Republican Chris Monzel.  Monzel dared to oppose the Sheriff's Sales Tax increase and for that he must be punished.  Monzel has also been the leading voice of opposition to the streetcar.  He should be punished for that too.  Monzel opposes raising the county property taxes and keeps voting against raising taxes in the city.  What kind of Republican opposes higher taxes?

We applaud Si Leis for supporting the $200 million streetcar.  We applaud Leis for supporting a massive Sales Tax increase.   We applaud Leis for all he did to secure his $100,000 fishing boat so he can protect Hamilton County from a Kentucky invasion.  We especially applaud Leis for supporting good Democratic candidates who will grow government just like Obama.  Simon Leis and his support for Obama politics is the future of the Republican Party.  We demand that all Republicans show their party loyalty by supporting Simon's great Democratic candidates this Tuesday.

Jon Husted - 2010 Tax Hiker of the Year

Dear fellow tax hikers, our most special day of the year comes when we name the winner of our most prestigious award.  With no hesitation, we are incredibly proud to name Jon Husted our 2010 Tax Hiker of the Year.  Husted is the last surviving member of the Bob Taft regime, and like Taft he will be starting his run for Governor with a victory for Secretary of State.  We know that everyone will agree that Husted is extremely deserving of this award after reviewing his fantastic pro-tax record:

1.  Voted for Bob Taft's 20% Sales Tax Hike.

2.  With gas prices too law, Husted proudly voted for Bob Taft's 27% Gas Tax hike.

3.  As an elections specialist, Husted worked with ACORN and Daily Kos to implement "Golden Week" and other elections reforms that helped ACORN dominate Ohio in 2008.  It is important to have a Secretary of State and Governor who believes in ACORN (and their successor groups) and will do everything they want so they can dominate our state every year.

4.  Worked with Bob Taft to implement a new Commercial Activities Tax, so Ohio can further tax the businesses of our state.

5.  A man of great integrity, Husted represents a Dayton-area district where he claims to live, while he spends most of his time in his Franklin County house where his wife and kids work, attend school, and live full time.  In fact, in 2006 the Husted family took a tax deduction by claiming their Columbus condo as a "principal residence", further establishing their real home 100 miles away from his Senate district he claims to represent.

6.  Fully supported Bob Taft's 3rd Frontier program so Ohio can take on more debt.

7.  Has voted to give millions of taxpayer dollars to The Freedom Center.  And as House Speaker, he took his support even further by refusing to allow State Representatives Tom Brinkman and Bob Mecklenborg to offer an amendment to cut off their funding.  We are certain the $5,000 of campaign contributions he took from John Pepper had nothing to do with these votes, and should not be construed to show that Husted's vote can be bought. 

8.  Finally, Husted worked closely with us to force the local Republican Party to select 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt to be our candidate for State Representative.  This was one of the finest moments of tax hiker unity that we've ever experienced. 

Husted's record of being a great, Taft-style tax hiker cannot be disputed.  Jon Husted is our #1 statewide star.  In 4 years, Husted will be Ohio's next Governor after Ted Strickland finishes his 2nd term, and when he does, it'll be like having Bob Taft all over again.  Husted has proven his survival skills as the only survivor of Bob Taft's inner circle.  Now we must get behind him as he leads the rebuild of Ohio's tax hiking movement.  The Husted for Governor campaign starts next week when we elect Bob Taft - oh wait, we mean Jon Husted - as our Secretary of State!

Jim Tarbell for County Commissioner

(Tarbell and his "diverse" supporters marching in the Gay Pride Parade)

Dear fellow tax hikers, it is with great Pride that we announce our strong endorsement for Jim Tarbell for County Commissioner.  If you need a man to raise your taxes, there is hardly a finer choice than Taxin' Tarbell.  This race features two candidates with huge differences between them.  Taxin' Tarbell is one of our best friends, while his opponent Chris Monzel has been one of our biggest enemies.  Consider the differences between them:

1.  Jim Tarbell supported a huge 30 year Sales Tax increase to pay for a $2.7 Billion Light Rail proposal, while Chris Monzel opposed it.  The fact that 68% of Hamilton County voted against this plan does not deter our strong support for such a tax increase. 

2.  Monzel has consistently supported rolling back the city's property tax rate, while Taxin' Tarbell has always opposed such vicious tax relief.

3.  Tarbell wants to spend $185 million for a streetcar while Monzel has been Council's leading voice of opposition for this fantastic plan.

4.  The centerpiece of Taxin' Tarbell's campaign for Commissioner is to raise property taxes to give more money to Mike Brown and the Bengals.  Monzel says he doesn't support any tax increases to further subsidize our mega-millionaire sports owners. 

5.  Monzel has been Council's leading voice of opposition to subsidizing The Freedom Center, a museum supported by John Pepper.  In his final months on Council, Tarbell worked hard to give them an additional $800,000 in taxpayer funds to counter Monzel's efforts to defund them. 

6.  In addition, Monzel publicly opposed Mayor Mallory's Trash Tax, and vocally supported a ban on red light cameras. 

7.  Tarbell supports adding domestic partner coverage to the Hamilton County health insurance plan.  We can't wait to hear which tax Tarball wants to raise to pay for this. 

8.  Finally, we will never forgive Monzel for publicly opposing the joint Republican-Democrat efforts to raise the Sales Tax by $777 million to build a shiny new jail and spend hundreds of millions in social spending.  We needed that tax increase, and the fact that the voters overwhelmingly rejected it doesn't excuse Monzel's opposition.  Monzel was given his orders and he refused to obey.  There is no room on the Commission for someone who serves the voters instead of the political party elites. 

As you can see, there is a wide range of differnces between these two candidates.  Taxin' Tarbell will raise your taxes, over and over again.  By contrast, Monzel has consistently opposed tax increases.  He will even disobey party leaders to stand behind his belief in lower taxes and limited government.  We cannot afford to have a fiscal conservative on the Commission.  In the name of higher taxes, we strongly endorse Jim Tarbell for Commissioner! 

Sheriff's Chief Deputy Runs Drinking Establishment

Dear fellow tax hikers, we have spent the last several weeks investigating the inner workings of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.  We have discovered some fascinating information which we know you will enjoying reading.  In the name of ethics we must disclose our biases - we are HUGE fans of Sheriff Simon Leis and have fully supported his past campaigns to raise our county's Sales Tax and spend $200 million to build the Cincinnati streetcar.  Our findings only further our love and admiration for our great Sheriff. 

We tax hikers have secured a copy of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office Operating Procedure Manual, which "establishes guidelines and standards for Sheriff's officers working outside employment...."  One of these guidelines states with no exception: "Certain types of outside employment are prohibited as follows:  1) Work for a liquor permit premise (bar), where the primary business is the sale of liquor."  Sheriff's Office General Rules and Regulations further state that, "Sheriff's Office Employees shall not engage in any other employment or business without the permission of the Sheriff."  So to sum it up, the Sheriff must approve outside business or employment, and absolutely no involvement with a liquor permit premise. 

We found it extremely interesting, then, that Hamilton County Chief Deputy Sheriff Sean Donovan is an owner of............a liquor permit premise, City Cellars.  Evidence of the liquor permit can be found by going to this site and searching for Donovan. 

This is the kind of integrity that we expect from Sheriff Simon Leis.   We're sure the Sheriff and Chief Deputy Donovan will claim they are in compliance with the rule because this place serves pizza too, or maybe they serve more of one thing than another, or his wife is the real owner.  We would call this defense Ethics by Technicality, if we could even claim that.  As tax hikers, we find this standard to be an incredibly compelling measure of Simon's character. 

But let's make sure we keep an eye on the important issues.  We need higher Sales Taxes.  We need streetcars.  And we need more Sheriff's employees running drinking establishments regardless of what the rules say.  These reasons and more are why we admire our beloved Sheriff Simon Leis and applaud his strong sense of integrity.  Tax us more!

Jean Schmidt for Congress

Dear fellow tax hikers, tonight your favorite blog Republicans for Higher Taxes begins releasing our choices for the 2010 general election. Our first endorsement was an easy one. With no hesitation, we strongly endorse the re-election of Jean Schmidt to Congress.

Her opponent in this race, whoever he is, has not been visible in any way. We would call him a ghost, except that some people would accuse us of making a racial slur.

Jean Schmidt has been one of the past decade's finest tax increasers. Consider the fantastic Jean Schmidt record:

1. Proudly voted for Bob Taft's 20% Sales Tax hike.  Our good friend Michelle Schneider also voted for this. 

2. Voted for Bob Taft's 27% Gas Tax increase. Gas prices were way too low and Jean knew the government needed to take action to raise them.

3. Sponsored the legislation to more than double Hamilton County Hotel/Motel Tax. This legislation was sponsored by Schmidt, endorsed by Virgil Lovitt, and signed into law by Governor Bob Taft - a legendary trio of tax hikers.

4. Has strongly supported great Republicans like 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year Virgil Lovitt, 2009 Tax Hiker of the Year Michelle Schneider, and pro-tax Sheriff Simon Leis.

5. When not raising taxes, Jean Schmidt voted with Barack Obama to pass George Bush's $800 billion Bailout for Wall Street Billionaires.

Jean Schmidt legacy is daunting.  She has left Ohio with higher taxes and bigger government.  And by voting for the big government policies of George Bush and Barack Obama, Schmidt left America with massive debt that her great-grandchildren who haven't even been born yet will spend their entire lives paying off.  This is one fantastic record from our Jean Schmidt, who is one fantastic Congressman.  Re-elect Jean Schmidt to Congress!