By Jim Siegel
Gannett Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Ohioans don't want new taxes. They don't want major budget cuts either.

"That's the paradox," Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, said Thursday when told of new results from the Ohio Poll.

"We'll just to the best we can. We're not going to be perfect in this process."

The Ohio Poll, conducted by the University of Cincinnati, asked 843 adults about potential state actions to address the estimated $4 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget.

If lawmakers were looking for signs of whether Ohioans want to pay more or gut government services, this poll won't give it to them.

"Decisions will have to be made, and some of those decisions won't be popular," said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the Ohio Poll. "There really isn't an easy answer."

Gov. Bob Taft's proposal for 2004-05 includes $3.1 billion in tax increases, a $1 billion cut to Medicaid, and little growth for most agencies outside of K-12 education and higher education.

The taxes include expanding the sales tax to a variety of currently exempted products and services, tightening business taxes, and increasing taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.

The only tax increases to get even marginal support from the public were sin taxes. The Ohio Poll found 50 percent would tolerate a 45-cent increase on cigarette taxes to help balance the budget, while 49 percent approved of doubling the tax on beer, wine and liquor.

But public opinion turned sharply negative when asked to support an expanded sales tax. Just 28 percent supported that action, while 70 percent opposed it.

Lawmakers also are considering a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax as an alternative to Taft's plan. Leaders warn that without taxes, government programs will be cut dramatically.

"Government as we know it today that provides major services to people that have no other resources ... will have substantial changes," said Sen. Bill Harris, R-Ashland, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

But the public doesn't want that either. More than 70 percent of respondents were against cutting Medicaid, Head Start, or closing a prison. More than 90 percent opposed closing a facility that serves the developmentally disabled.

When making budget decisions, White said, lawmakers will react most to what constituents are telling them.