If only Senator Voinovich were on the primary ballot this year…

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the junior Republicrat senator from Ohio is calling for a temporary tax increase.

At a Senate hearing where Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff testified, Voinovich said Congress should approve “a temporary increase in our taxes” to pay for the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to defend the nation against terrorist attacks.

Christopher Paulitz, a Voinovich spokesman, said the senator has not introduced a bill to raise taxes and “doesn’t have anything specific in mind. What he’s trying to do is get people’s attention that we can’t keep promising everything under the sun and leave it to our grandchildren to pay for it.”

Sounds like we shouldn’t “keep promising everything under the sun,” to me. The 1898 telephone tax to fund the Spanish-American war only came off our books this year. You might even be able to claim a refund, reports the Washington Post. How’s that for a temporary war tax?

Ohio should do its part to reduce the deficit. We should give back our $91 million for research parks, youth activity centers, ice skating rinks, and glass blowing museums; $4 million to rescue 70 jobs in Toledo; and $17.5 million for technical parks, equestrian centers, and green building projects. (Numbers from the CAGW 2006 Pig Book).