New property tax breaks will negatively affect Ohio schools’ funding

New property tax-related reforms passed by the Ohio Senate will negatively affect schools in the Buckeye State, according to Cleveland.com.

The Senate made life easier for Ohioans by ending the practice of runaway tax increases without the Buckeye State’s residents voting, according to the Senate’s press release.

The laws will allegedly save Ohio’s property taxpayers $2 billion over three years as the full force of the changes takes effect, as previously reported by Ohio.News. 

According to the press release, almost 70% of all property taxes go ot schools.

Ohio.News recently reported that Ohioans in the northeastern part of the state refused to support school levies because they would increase their property taxes.

“It’s vitally important that as elected officials, members of the state legislature listen to the voices of Ohioans and address their priorities – and this budget delivers on that promise,” Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said. “By providing meaningful and record tax relief, investing in education, and focusing on Ohio families, we are building a stronger future for our state.”

One of the things that the lawmakers recently targeted was prioritizing property tax relief for Ohioans who own and live in their homes.

“Homeowners will see the residential tax credit increase over the next 4 years,” the lawmakers said in the press release. “This will provide an additional $350 million to $400 million of property tax relief for Ohio homeowners while the non-business property tax credit is phased out.”

Additionally, the lawmakers capped “the growth in property taxes due to reappraisal to no more than the cumulative rate of inflation over the previous 3 years” and made “existing Emergency and Substitute levies subject to the tax reduction factors.”

They also capped “the basic automatic growth of inside mileage to no more than the cumulative rate of inflation over the previous 3 years” and empowered “County Budget Commissions to reduce unnecessary or excessive collections.”

Senate President Rob McColley said in the statement that he and other lawmakers “stand for the taxpayers and not for runaway revenue that is undermining homeowners and the American Dream.”

“While home prices have skyrocketed and outpaced the rate of inflation, we’ve heard the complaints from homeowners and are not only granting tax relief in the near term, but we are making sure that these unexpected and unwanted spikes in property taxes won’t happen again,” he said.

Before passing the recent reforms, the Senate also passed a property tax relief bill. The Ohio House lawmakers also introduced several bills to help struggling Ohioans.