COLUMBUS — The Republican-controlled General Assembly has had little trouble giving Gov. John Kasich most of what he’s asked for when it comes to tax cuts.

Raising other taxes to help pay the tab, however, has been a different story, and there appears to be little consensus this year on the governor’s latest tax-reform plan.

“What I’ve asked (House GOP members) to do is keep an open mind and say let’s not get out too quick and say I’m just going to vote no on this budget…,” House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger (R., Clarksville) told reporters Thursday.

He agrees with Mr. Kasich’s stance that Ohio’s income tax is too high.

“When you take the federal government, and the state, and then the local government on top of that, I think the answer would probably be ‘yes’,” he said. “It’s an issue we still have to work on at the state level.”

But there’s no such agreement when it comes to hiking the sales tax by half a penny on the dollar, raising the cigarette tax by a buck a pack, extending it to other lower-taxed tobacco products, raising taxes on shale oil and natural gas drillers, and bumping up the gross receipts tax paid by large businesses.

Mr. Kasich promises that the total package would lead to a net tax cut of $523 million over two years.

“That’s the easy part of it …,” he said. “That $500 million gets paid for by the savings that we’ve been able to generate. … I believe we can achieve even more if we start fundamentally changing the way that Ohio’s tax system works so that taxes have less of a drag on the private economy.”

He urged legislators, most from his party, to be more aggressive in shifting the state toward consumption-based taxes to enact deeper income tax cuts for individuals and small businesses.

“This is something that’s been debated throughout time with economics on which way is best,” said Rep. Ryan Smith (R., Gallipolis), chairman of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee. “We have 65 (GOP) members and multiple opinions on which way is best.”

Among the most contentious issues is Mr. Kasich’s proposed hike in the severance tax paid by drillers of eastern Ohio’s shale. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. Rosenberger would say they’d have enough votes today to again pass a hike that cleared the chamber last year, a bill that died in the Senate and was dismissed as insufficient by Mr. Kasich.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

First Published February 27, 2015, 5:00 a.m.