A story from the AP says, the bill received just enough Republican support to clear the GOP-led Senate 17-15 and headed immediately to the Democrat-led House, where it passed 54-42 with two Republicans joining Democrats in favor.

The agreement delays a scheduled income tax cut to fill an $850 million budget gap in the state's two-year, $51 billion spending plan while preserving state funding to school districts, which would have taken a hit if it had gone through. Educators and community leaders had spent the last week complaining loudly about the financial hardship they faced as a result of the budget impasse.

The deal impacts the wallets and pocketbooks of Ohio taxpayers, but not by much, many lawmakers would argue. It postpones for two years the final installment of what was to be a 21 percent income tax cut begun under Strickland's predecessor, Bob Taft.

Strickland stressed that because of an increase in the personal exemption amount, most Ohioans will still pay less in taxes for 2009 than they did in 2008. Ohioans are paying 16.8 percent less in income taxes than they were in 2004, he said.

The lowest 20 percent of earners, making $18,000 or less, will have to pay only $2 more for 2009 than they would have had they received the 4.2 percent reduction in the tax rate, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The top 1 percent, earning $319,000 or more, will pay $1,980 more. And those in the middle 40 percent, earning from $32,000 to $76,000 a year, will pay an additional $37 to $69.

Strickland and his legislative allies have insisted the tax change is a delay, saying they have the intention of implementing the cut for the 2011 tax year. But the state faces a potential multibillion dollar deficit due to the expected absence of federal stimulus money, leading some to believe the delay may be permanent.

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