“This will give to the rich and take away from the poor.”

That’s how Zach Schiller of the Liberal think tank PolicyMatters Ohio portrays the governor's tax shift plan.  It would slash the graduated state income tax for families by 20 percent  and for small business by 50 percent.

 At the same time, it would apply a 5 percent sales tax to a long list services that are now tax-free.

 A PolicyMatters study concludes the average net tax cut for the top 1 percent of income earners would be more than $10,000. The next highest 4 percent of earners would get a tax cut of more than $1,500.

But the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers would pay an increase averaging $63.

Ohio’s Republican Party Chief Bob Bennett calls the criticism "class warfare by Democrats."  A tax department official calls the study "advocacy research that's not solid."  But the agency has issued no counter-study to refute the claims in the study.

Gov. Kasich's press secretary says people should focus on this instead: a huge tax cut for small companies will boost jobs.