Ohio Property-Tax Revolt Challenges Local Power

Ohio campaign volunteers say they’ve collected 300,000 signatures to abolish property taxes, a proposal that could reach the 2027 ballot and change how local governments pay for schools, police and other services. Typical Ohio property-tax bills have climbed to nearly $3,000 a year, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The fight pits homeowners’ claims to secure ownership against local governments’ reliance on a tax that supplies most of their revenue.

Homeowners Challenge the Tax

At a flea market in Hartville, Ohio, on the Saturday before Memorial Day, dozens signed petitions calling for abolition. “I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?”

Brian Massie, the 79-year-old leader of the Ohio campaign, said volunteers gathered the signatures without the multimillion-dollar budgets typically needed to hire petition carriers for Ohio citizens’ initiatives. Political observers believe the measure could qualify for the 2027 ballot. “This is probably the most robust purely grassroots effort I have ever seen in Ohio,” said Greg Lawson, a senior fellow at the conservative Buckeye Institute think tank.

The campaign’s slogan, “Ax OH Tax,” captures a central argument among activists: property owners shouldn’t have to keep paying government to retain their homes. Massie calls the initiative Ohio’s Declaration of Independence and says the issue is private property. “We are not going to give up that inalienable right of private property,” he said.

The movement reaches beyond Ohio. Plans to reduce or repeal property taxes have emerged in more than two dozen states. Homeowners’ frustration has grown alongside rising home prices, mortgage rates and insurance bills. Home values have risen an average of 50% nationwide since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, while the median annual property-tax payment rose 25% from 2019 to 2024, an increase of more than $600, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Lincoln Institute.

Local Budgets and Public Services

Property taxes account for about 70% of local tax collections, the Tax Foundation found. State and local governments collect about $800 billion a year from the levy. Rates differ among cities, counties, townships and other local government units. Homeowners who live in their properties generally pay between half a percent and just under 2% of home value annually, depending on where they live.

Cities, counties, schools, labor unions, hospitals and chambers of commerce have formed coalitions to oppose cuts, warning of consequences for public services. Budget advisers to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine warned that abolishing the taxes “would quite literally ‘defund’ the police.” Robert Butler, a past president of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and police chief in Independence, said cuts would mean “the immediate forced liquidation of patrol units and the degradation of emergency response.”

Replacing the $24 billion Ohio would lose if it abolished property taxes would require the state’s average income tax rate to rise to just under 13%, according to the Tax Foundation. Massie dismissed those warnings as alarmist and said government should shrink, with lawmakers finding other revenue. “I’m not willing to give up my home for a book or a walk in the park,” he said.

Charlestown, a growing community on the Kentucky border, is cutting its budget as a former ammunition plant undergoes redevelopment, bringing jobs and residents. A public park with mini golf, a splash pad and a roller-skating rink cut its operating schedule from seven days a week to four. Residents on cul-de-sacs were told their streets wouldn’t be cleared immediately in the coming winter because the city couldn’t pay snowplow drivers overtime.

Political Fight Over Who Pays

In Florida, Ron DeSantis proposed eliminating property taxes for more than 90% of primary residences. Republican lawmakers removed his proposed education-funding cuts before sending a property-tax measure to the November ballot. Incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison said Republicans agreed taxes should be cut, but “we’ve also been frank with voters there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Several Republican sheriffs criticized the measure; one called it a “train wreck.”

In Ohio, DeWine vetoed more aggressive bills before signing a reduced package focused mainly on limiting future tax increases. Vivek Ramaswamy called for “the largest property tax rollback in Ohio history,” reducing taxes to pre-pandemic levels, but later backed away from a promise to eliminate the tax entirely. State Rep. David Thomas said deep cuts could prompt consolidation among Ohio’s 611 school districts and 1,308 townships across 88 counties. He said consolidation had faced resistance because “no one wants to lose their mascot.”

Other states have made narrower changes. Montana legislators cut taxes on owner-occupied homes, Iowa capped growth in local property-tax revenue, and Oklahoma lawmakers put a measure on the November ballot to restrict future increases. North Dakota voters rejected a repeal initiative in 2024 by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, after local governments, labor unions and business leaders argued the cuts were too severe and lacked viable replacement revenue. The state passed a landmark property-tax cut the following year.

Researchers from the federal government and Yale University found in a 2024 study that property-tax reductions in Georgia increased home prices. The cuts drew prospective buyers into bidding wars and encouraged existing owners to stay longer, reducing available housing. The researchers found that the price increases particularly hurt younger prospective first-time buyers and disproportionately benefited older, long-term homeowners.