By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall, Average Citizen
Why Should You Support the Movement to Abolish Ohio’s Property Taxes?
Let’s start with an understanding of how property ownership is tied to freedom and liberty.
- Property Ownership is foundational to freedom and liberty.
Freedom reflects personal autonomy (the ability to make decisions independently), where individuals escape physical, social or political control. It is inherent in human nature, and central to Western societies. In our country, it refers to freedom of speech, religion, and association.
Liberty represents the framework of rights and responsibilities the citizen must follow while exercising their freedom.
Freedom focuses on the absence of governmental restraint, liberty highlights the presence of laws or principles ensuring fairness and order within a society. - Property is a shield against government power.
Ownership of property gives individuals independence from the state and subject to less coercion by the state. If we own nothing, then we are merely serfs to the government. Currently, we are just renters from the government because if after paying off our mortgage, we are still responsible for annual property taxes. Stop paying property taxes and your home can be seized by the government.
Governments that can easily seize or control property can punish dissent without due process. Historically, regimes that abolished or weakened private property (Russia, and China as examples) also restricted speech, movement and political opposition.
Philosopher John Locke argued that protecting “life, liberty and property” was the primary reason that governments exist. If property rights are eliminated, liberty will follow.
3. Economic Freedom and Self-Determination
Property ownership enables individuals to:
- Earn a living independently
- Accumulate and pass on wealth to future generations
- Invest, innovate, and plan for the future
- Encourages long-term responsibility and stewardship
- Strengthens families and neighborhoods
- Provide security across generations
Without secure property rights:
- Citizens depend on the state or elites for housing, work and survival
- Economic decisions become political decisions
- Freedom becomes conditional, not inherent
Citizens with property have a tangible stake in the rule of law and are better positioned to resist corruption, arbitrary taxation, and the abuse of power.
Founder James Madison warned that a government that can arbitrarily redistribute or confiscate property will eventually destroy liberty itself.
4. When Property Rights are Weakened
Excessive taxation, regulatory overreach, or eminent domain abuse can turn ownership into a conditional privilege, undermine trust in government, and erode the practical meaning of liberty.
5. The American Constitutional framework
The U.S and Ohio Constitutions treat property ownership as a core right. The 5th and 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provide protections for the citizens’ property rights.
Article 1, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution deals with Inalienable Rights:
“All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.”
State of Ohio elected officials swear an oath before taking office to support and defend the Ohio Constitution. This very first article of the Ohio Constitution is being ignored by all Ohio officials when they continue to ignore the impact of the ever-increasing property taxes in the State of Ohio, and permit known fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayers’ funds.
6. Are Property Taxes Constitutional?
In 1825, the formal real property tax system based on value began in Ohio. In 1851 – 1852 the Ohio Constitution adopted a uniform property tax system based on true value.
Therefore, we can say that the use of property taxes for payment of government services is constitutional. However, there is a continuing debate on whether the use of property taxes for public school funding is constitutional.
“Ohio courts have never ruled property taxes unconstitutional for schools. Over reliance on property taxes leading to funding disparities across districts was found unconstitutional (DeRolph v Ohio). However, the Court also has not ruled on whether today’s system relies on them too heavily.”…Tax Lobbying Expert.
7. What is the role of government?
From an American founding viewpoint, the primary purpose of government is to secure pre-existing rights, not to grant them. These rights are life, liberty and property. Government exists because rights are vulnerable, not because people need to be managed. Government should not control speech or thought, manage private economic life beyond preventing fraud or force, redistribute property arbitrarily, replace families, churches, or local communities.
When government shifts from protector of rights to provider of outcomes, liberty erodes. It is our opinion that the government should not be in the business of property valuation. The abolishment of property taxes will provide the sorely needed reduction in the size and cost of government at the state and local levels.
8. What we see happening in Ohio
The growth of the public sector at the State and local level has outgrown the private sector’s ability to pay for services. The State’s budget continues to increase annually, but the distribution of local government funds from the State has not increased commensurately with the overall revenue increases. Elected state officials are keeping the state funds for their pet projects and special interests supported by a myriad of lobbyists in the State. Therefore, this means that local government services and public schools must be funded primarily by local property and income taxes.
There are more than 6,500 local governments and taxing authorities in Ohio. Many taxing authorities in the state have accumulated massive cash reserves that have been taken from the private sector. This unreasonable accumulation of cash has placed an unnecessary burden on all Ohioans and hurts the local economy because less money is in the hands of the consumers, curtailing their ability to spend in the local community.
9. Lack of Checks and Balances
Until the recent legislation supported by Lake County Auditor Chris Galloway and sponsored by State Representative David Thomas (District 65), there were no checks and balances in our local governments to protect the financial interests of the taxpayers. The County’s Budget Commission were merely rubber stamps for the taxing authorities when they submitted their budgets justifying why they needed existing and new property tax levies. It remains to be seen if the County Budget Commission, comprised of the County Auditor, Treasurer, and Prosecutor, will truly hold the taxing authorities accountable for their actions.
10. Overly Complex Tax System and Fraud in Ohio
The current property tax system is overly complex, costly to administer, taxes unrealized gains, and is easily manipulated to the detriment of the taxpayers. There will be no need to pay third party administrators to value the properties, and reductions in personnel at the State and local levels will reduce the size and cost of government.
The recent revelation about the fraud, waste and abuse by immigrants, and some citizens in the Columbus market is a prime example of an inefficient, out of control state government. When we are told by the Governor’s office that this fraud, waste and abuse is simply a “cost of doing business”, it is clear that Ohio’s government no longer supports or defends the rights of the citizens as clearly defined in Article 1, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution, ensuring protection of property rights.
They are not good stewards of the taxpayers’ money, and by abolishing property taxes we will “starve the beast” and force elected official to operate with less of the taxpayers’ money.
11. How are we going to replace “dollar for dollar” for the services provided by government?
The short answer is: “We are not going to replace “dollar for dollar”. Our answer is to “CUT SPENDING”. The current system is unstainable, so why would be simply move from the property tax to a sales tax? We would like to see a complete, extensive review of all state spending. The budgeting process should be based on a “zero based” concept, where every dollar must be justified, rather than the often used “incremental budgeting”, which is last year’s budget plus or minus changes.
The elimination of fraud, waste and abuse should be obvious and needs no explanation. However, public school funding is the “elephant in the room” that seems to be out of control. There must be serious discussion on combining school districts, in order to curb the out-of-control spending for most Ohio school districts. School buildings should be repaired and maintained rather than continue the current mindset of completely replacing school buildings.
12. Summary
Private property is not merely an economic concept; it is a cornerstone of freedom. Without secure property ownership liberty becomes theoretical, rights become permission, and citizens become subjects.
Our nation is at a crossroad. Is our 250-year experiment over? The evil winds of socialism and communism are blowing across our great state and nation. When leaders publicly state that the era of “rugged individualism” is being replaced by the “warmth of collectivism (socialism/communism)”, it is a clarion call for a change in how our nation is to be governed. The baby-boomer generation has lived a great life because of those that fought and sacrificed for our nation in World War II. We owe it to future generations to ensure that freedom, liberty and the American dream is forever available to them.
Please sign the petition to abolish Ohio’s immoral property taxes, and vote for the amendment on the November 2026 ballot. Let Ohio be the leader to save our great nation.
Brian Massie
Member, Committee to Abolish Ohio Property Taxes
Thanks to an unknown, talented patriot for the following image.
Categories: Community Activism, Real Estate Taxes, Uncategorized