Ohioans being punished for property tax crisis GOP lawmakers created

Your Turn

Nickie Antonio

Guest columnist

For decades, the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature has been creating the conditions for a crisis that has now arrived on the doorsteps of homeowners in the form of skyrocketing property tax bills.

But make no mistake: This is the direct result of a strategy to shift the burden of funding our state onto the backs of working people while giving handouts to the wealthiest residents.

The Republican scheme is simple. First, starve local governments and public schools of state revenue through years of funding cuts. The purpose? To free up revenue for the only constituents they care about: the wealthy and well-connected.

By slashing state support, they have forced school districts, libraries and police and fire departments to come to local voters with levy after levy just to maintain basic services.

As a result, communities are being forced to choose between putting up with skyrocketing taxes or slashing their own essential services.

The money stripped from our communities did not vanish, nor was it saved.

It was given away.

Look no further than the most recent state budget, where Republicans passed a $1 billion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the ultra-wealthy and raided $600 million of Ohioans’ unclaimed funds to pay for a billionaire’s new football stadium.

Every one of those dollars could have provided meaningful property tax relief for the 99% of Ohioans that our government is supposed to serve.

Republicans’ priorities could not be clearer.

Punish our communities for showing symptoms

Now, facing public outrage, the GOP’s 'solutions' are more of the same: minor tweaks that continue shifting the burden onto local communities.

If signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, legislation like House Bill 129 and House Bill 186 will tinker with school funding formulas in ways that might shave a few dollars off a tax bill but ultimately guarantee less revenue for the very public schools 90% of Ohio children attend.

Even worse, House Bill 309 codifies a straightforward assault on local democracy, allowing a three-person county budget commission to overturn the will of voters and reduce levies they deem 'unnecessary.'

These bills don’t treat the disease of our broken state funding model; they punish our communities for showing symptoms.

Ohioans are desperate

With a state government that has failed them, some Ohioans are so desperate for any relief that they are considering a referendum to abolish property taxes entirely.

Their exasperation toward our broken status quo is natural. But such a solution would only result in a windfall for the top 1%, who would see one of the few taxes they can’t easily avoid simply vanish, while the quality of life for everyone else collapses.

Real solutions exist

Democrats have fought for bipartisan proposals like expanding the homestead exemption and creating a property tax circuit breaker to protect seniors and working-class families when taxes exceed a percentage of their income. These are targeted, state-funded solutions that provide relief to those who desperately need it without sacrificing the services our communities rely on.

Ultimately, meaningful relief will require a fundamental shift in priorities at the Statehouse.

It will only arrive when Republican leaders stop funneling money to the wealthy and instead use that revenue to ease the burden they have placed on local communities and everyday Ohioans. The money is there; it is simply a matter of choosing who it should go toward.

The question for Ohio is simple: Will we continue down a path that prioritizes the wealthy few, or will we build a future where the state meets its responsibility to all its people?

The property tax crisis was manufactured by politicians who serve the donor class. It is time we had a government that serves the people.

Nickie Antonio serves as Senate Democratic Leader representing Ohio’s 23rd Senate District.