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Gov. John Kasich says cutting taxes is crucial to helping to lure and retain businesses and keep people from leaving Ohio.

The Republican governor discussed his proposed tax changes during his annual State of the State speech held this year in Wilmington.

Kasich’s $72.3 billion two-year budget seeks to cut the state income-tax rate by 23 percent. By 2017, the top marginal income-tax rate will have fallen from about 5.9 percent in 2011 to 4.1 percent.  He also has proposed eliminating the tax on income for small businesses with annual gross receipts of $2 million or less.

Democrats have criticized Kasich’s tax changes as shifting the tax burden to middle- and lower-income residents, contending they would pay a higher percent of their paychecks in taxes compared with wealthier Ohioan.