By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
We would like to thank a very concerned citizen for expressing his opinion on Ohio’s property taxes.
1. The Ohio Constitutional Amendment Ballot Issue to abolish property tax seeks to address the unfair, unaffordable, and damaging impact property taxes have on Ohioans. This grass roots effort is not against funding public safety, school systems, or other taxing entities. I am against funding these entities with property taxes.
2. As you know, signing a mortgage with a lender is a very serious and long-term commitment. Young adults have affordability difficulties obtaining a home, and seniors on fixed incomes become vulnerable to increased financial hardships when taxes are levied on real estate. What homeowners can afford when signing an approved mortgage, often becomes unaffordable when taxes increase; this unaffordable increase is no fault of the homeowner.
3. This is a Federal Constitutional issue of property rights, alongside a State Constitutional issue of funding education DeRolph Iv State; DeRolph II v State; DeRolph III v State; De Rolph IV v State.
Specific to DeRolph IV v State, the Court stated “…the orders of DeRolph I and DeRolph II are the Law of the Case.” The Court also stated, “…the current school funding method is unconstitutional.”
The Ohio Assembly is in violation of the Ohio Constitution and in my opinion is in breach of their Oath of Office.
4. To answer the question of what I propose replaces the property tax funds for Public Safety, Schools and Municipalities I suggest:
A. A sales tax- Every consumer in Ohio will pay sales tax. More paying into the pool. B. Income Tax-Every household will submit an Ohio Tax Return. My last review of the Ohio Department of Tax found Ohio AGI at 150K on Average per return and 5.1 million returns.
C. Stop Abatements.
i. These incentives usually never offset the long-term impact on taxpayers. More safety forces, more infrastructure costs, more schools, and more government spending. What is the overall sunk cost for incentives?
ii. Missed deadlines are normal, but incentives are never repealed. Intel missed Deadlines, allowed for missed income taxes, However, due to perceived economic growth property values skyrocketed on speculation and homeowners bear the burden without any accountability to the company gaining the incentives. Homeowners are never permitted to miss the deadline for property payments. tax.
D. Charge an Abatement Application Fee-A percentage of the overall lifetime incentive If a company wants to do business in Ohio and they want some incentive such as sales or income tax relief, get something up front on behalf of Ohioans.
E. Levies and Bond issues prey on emotion, use rumors and a general misunderstanding of the impact of the tax. Have you ever noticed controversial levies; the campaigning and ads offered by proponents are dampened down and kept quiet hoping for a lower turn out by the opposition voter base.
F. Leadership is hard. This public policy issue is tough. Leadership requires touch choices to be made. Seems politicians should be asking other politicians the question; what do we replace the funds with? Simply passing weak legislature to appear concerned and working on the problem, the root cause needs addressed and fixed.
G. The increase in property values assigned by the auditor is a phantom gain. Unrealized until the home is sold; equity loss is not a phantom loss-owners must pay tax on unrealized gain; the gain is only on paper, but tax expense is real.
For example-my taxes over the 25+ years I have lived in my home have been high enough that I have almost paid my mortgage a second time.
H. Why should taxpayers pay tax on property they own? Are you willing to pay a similar property tax for other personal property, say a car, a boat, or maybe a television set.
Categories: Community Activism, Contributors