The campaign to place a constitutional amendment eliminating property taxes on the November ballot in Ohio has fallen short, according to organizers, who say they have not collected enough signatures. They plan to refocus their efforts on 2027.
Brian Massie, a leader of the effort and the co-founder of AxOHTax, did not say how many signatures the campaign has collected during an early morning announcement on social media. He said the grassroots campaign did not reach its goal of 620,000, which would have given them a good margin of error for signatures deemed invalid. The effort required more than 413,000 valid signatures.
“We the people are declaring war on our politicians at the state level, and when you are at war, you never give the enemy any intel,” Massie said. “The only time that they're going to get a signature count from me is when we drive our U-Haul truck with all of our petitions down to the Secretary of State’s office.”
In April, News 5 reported that the campaign was gaining momentum, but supporters still had a long way to go. At that point, volunteers had collected 305,000 signatures — putting them almost halfway to their goal of 620,000 signatures by the end of June. The state's deadline for submitting signatures is July 1.
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Massie and his fellow campaigners have no confidence in the General Assembly. They’re reflecting the outrage of elderly taxpayers, in particular, who feel overburdened and ignored.
Opponents say eliminating property taxes entirely — on all kinds of real estate — is a drastic move. Ohio governments would have to make deep cuts, sharply raise other types of taxes, or do a combination of both things to have any chance at making up the difference.
The group Ohioans to Protect Public Services, which opposes the proposed amendment, issued a statement Friday morning calling the effort to abolish all property taxes “reckless” and pledging to continue fighting the effort.
“Local property taxes pay for services Ohioans count on every day, including police, fire, and EMS, 911, public schools, senior services, supports for children and people with disabilities to name just a few,” said Jen Detwiler, spokesperson for Ohioans to Protect Public Services. “Eliminating two-thirds of local tax revenue overnight does not make those needs disappear — it forces our state into impossible choices: severe cuts to local services, massive increases in sales and income taxes, or both.”
On Friday morning, Massie said, “What these politicians do not realize — the money has got to be in the hands of the people, so that they can spend it in the local economy.”
