Property-tax deal helps clear the way for Ohio’s capital budget

The cheerleading around Ohio’s property tax “deal” treats homeowner anger as a nuisance to manage so Columbus can move on to the capital budget. That framing is backwards. If property taxes are pricing families out of stability, it is not a messaging problem. It is a legitimacy problem.

What’s missing is any hard look at why valuations jump while local spending keeps ratcheting up. A deal that “clears the way” for new projects can easily become permission for more of the same: shifting costs onto working households while insiders argue over formulas.

Conservatives start with taxpayer consent and transparent budgeting. Capital spending should meet core infrastructure needs, not be lubricated by side agreements that paper over broken incentives. Restoring public trust means limiting growth, demanding accountability, and treating property ownership as something to protect, not a revenue stream to optimize.