A train is rushing down the tracks in Ohio, propelled by a citizen movement to abolish any use of property taxes in the state via a 2026 ballot issue, and state legislators seem oblivious to the dangers. If a ban on property taxes makes it to the ballot, how can anyone think it won’t pass big, given citizen anger over Ohio’s failure to reform its property tax system.
That’s why lawmakers need to regroup – now – and reconsider the negative way they’ve been approaching property-tax fixes. They’ve been nibbling around the edges with what are essentially punitive measures intended to bully school districts into not fulfilling their fiduciary duties. How can anyone think that will fix a problem that has taxpayers up in arms in this state? If anything, such unrealistic bullying will make things worse, by forcing school districts to seek more property-tax levies, not fewer.
It’s time the General Assembly put on their big-boy and big-girl clothing and found ways to fix the state’s property-tax system properly and fully — by incentivizing real change. That means not penalizing proper stewardship of the public weal but rather passing laws that offer positive innovations and clear inducements to taxing authorities to find ways to reduce Ohioans’ property-tax burden without sacrificing needed public services.
Gov. Mike DeWine has constituted another working group to examine constructive and lasting ways to fix the state’s property tax system. This Property Tax Reform Working Group needs to look for the carrots that will steer real change far more effectively than a continued reliance on sticks can ever do.
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