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Taxing land values? One Ohio Republican introduces a constitutional amendment

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Ohio voters greenlit almost two-thirds of the local property tax levies on ballots across the state Tuesday, according to the Ohio School Boards Association.

Houses in the eastern suburbs of Columbus as seen from an aircraft.
Houses in the eastern suburbs of Columbus. [Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]
Tuesday’s election results came even with bubbling frustration over high property taxes—what some have said is due to inaction by state lawmakers.

Under the Ohio Constitution, cities and towns and schools can tax properties, not land values, meaning how much an owner shells out in taxes is determined by both their land and what is built on their land. Sen. Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Twp.) is making the case to turn that on its head.

“Land value taxation goes back to Henry George,” Blessing said in an interview, referencing an American economist and writer who was tied to the Progressive Era of the late 1800s and early 1900s. “Actually, it goes further back than that, but he’s the one who popularized it in the 19th century, and he believed very firmly that you could do everything with a land value tax.”

But allowing jurisdictions do so would require an amendment to the Ohio Constitution, which is why he introduced Senate Joint Resolution 7 in October. SJR has not yet been scheduled for a committee hearing.

“A lot of this fighting, outside of the school funding formula and stateside relief, all the local confusion, all of this garbage goes away with the way that I have SJR 7,” Blessing said.

That’s because if SJR 7 was amended into the constitution, subdivisions—like elected school boards—would decide whether to levy taxes on land value.

Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) said in an interview he has not looked close at SJR 7, but so far, he isn’t sold.

“You’re doing a whole big shift that will certainly benefit some, but then I think the negative consequences for many will be much greater,” Thomas said. “That helps your renters, that helps your actual homeowners, but if we’re shifting all that over to the land side, they’re still paying on their land, and the folks that own vacant land or farmland, are they going to be paying a tremendously higher amount?”

Three-fifths of both chambers of the legislature would need to back SJR 7 for it to make statewide ballots.