Former Ohio Gov and U.S. Rep. John J. Gilligan, Democrat who created state income tax, dies.

Former Ohio Governor John Gilligan talks to his daughter Kathleen Sebelius in this 2008 file photo.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former Ohio Governor John Gilligan talks to his daughter Kathleen Sebelius in this 2008 file photo.

CINCINNATI — Former Ohio Gov. and U.S. Rep. John J. Gilligan, a liberal Democrat who won creation of the state income tax, has died. He was 92.

His death today was confirmed by his caregiver Frank Kennedy.

Gilligan's daughter Kathleen Sebelius, a former Kansas governor, in 2009 became Health and Human Services secretary under President Barack Obama.

Gilligan, a teacher, became the state's 62nd governor in 1970, a year in which Republicans suffered from a loan scandal in the state treasurer's office.

He inherited a school funding problem in which 24 districts had closed for lack of operating money and more were expected to follow suit.

Gilligan persuaded legislators to enact the state's first corporate and personal income tax in 1971 to raise money for dealing with those and other government priorities.