Bill Cunningham, the Great American. Of course, Ohio winds are very concerned about payments to the Browns and the Bengals. We're concerned about real estate tax relief. And this isn't just about old folks, It's about young Americans. I've had many thirty, thirty, five, forty years old saying their taxes are skyrocketing. And the little town of Madeira, which is close to where I broadcast from. If you've got a five hundred thousand dollars house, you pay about twelve thousand,
thirteen thousand a year and property taxes. If it's a million dollar house, you pay twenty thousand dollars a year. Bothering Madeira is excellent schools that are extremely expensive. But there are some in Columbus trying to instead a curse in the darkness lighting a candle. And one of the House Republicans in charge, of course, is Dave Thomas of
the Richfield, Ohio area. He's got a I'm sorry, he's in the Jefferson area of the state of Ohio, and he's got a bill that would be landmarked ledge if adopted, that would deliver three point five billion dollars in property tax relief to Ohio wins across the state. Nothing's been touched for about fifty years. And David Thomas, State Rep. Welcome to the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all, tell me what your bill would do, if anything, about the skyrocketing real estate taxes.
Yes, thank you so much for having me on. I was a former county auditor in Nashavilla County, did that for six years. Why I ran Firstate representative was our property tax system. You just said it right there. It's way out of whack. The system is broken. We've been introducing a lot of bills working through some pretty shrunk policy. What the House is now proposed as our kind of overarching project is House Bill three thirty five. It's the
property tax release. Now at big components, The big kind of overarching aspects of it though, are to, like you said, give three point five billion dollars worth of direct property tax decreases to everyone across the state in January of next year right away, and then we're looking at essentially we're moving the idea. One of the big problems for
property taxes. We all know it's a capital gains unrealized capital gains tax, and we need to remove the idea of when your value increases, then your property tax increases by that same amount are almost close. We do that by limiting down how much schools are getting from property taxes moving forward, limiting that twenty mili floor that you made relation, and removing something called inside millage. And what this is. Inside millage is a portion of your tax
bill that we've never voted on. It's kind of the base level on your tax bill. That ten mills or one percent of your property value is your tax rate. It's applied to your property every year, and when your value goes up, your tax bill goes up right along with it. And I know folks in your listening area have had their property taxes skyrocket. Yes, my home area as well. Yes, And this is a big part of that reason. Because your tax rates aren't decreasing like when
you vote for a levee. Instead, your tax rates stay the same. Your value goes up, and we need to essentially eliminate that idea and give the voters the full authority to be able to say, I want my property taxes to go up, I want those services or I want things to say the same, and I don't want those services. That's a huge component of the spill, and moving forward, it will do wonders for homeowners across Ohio
who are worried right now. They see their market value increasing and they're worried about how much more than you're saying on the property taxes.
You know, if you give an Ohioan the opportunity to eliminate or occurtail by direct vote property taxes, it's going to happen. Now you may be aware of this is working through the system right now here. We are approaching the middle of June. But in November we may be voting to eliminate or curtail property taxes. And so might your bill be a dollar I think it's going to pass. I think sixty percent of us are going to say we can't take it anymore. But the problem is what
are you substitute it with? Is it sales taxes? An income tax? And Republicans in Columbus want to have a flat tax I think at two point seven percent of state income tax? And so what impact does the vote to reject property taxes in Toto have on your bill which wouldn't take effect until January.
Right, so the bill would take effect this year with one last component, which is the Budget Commission. That's a group at the county level of three elected individuals who actually right now have no real authority. We're giving them the full authority to decrease tax rates, to freeze RIP is coming in to review budgets. That'll start right away. But the actual three point five billion dollars of the inside millage being cut to all property owners, you're right,
that starts in January. We are late. I just started in January of this year, and I joke with folks, I've had five months to make up for five years of frankly, the state not doing a lot right in this in this realm. So I feel for the taxpayers. That's why I ran I work. Actually talked quite a bit with the folks who are pushing the Constitutional Amendment. I've told them, you know, you guys do your thing.
I'll keep trying to reform, make strong changes to the legislature, and if we kind of do this in tandem, you know something's going to have to happen for our taxpayers one way or the other.
What happens on the constitutional Amendment, which means if that passes, much like the abortion thing was constitutional amendment, much like the marijuana thing was. It was not a constitutional amendment. It was an ordinance, so to speak. But constitutional amendment passes. What happens if the people of Ohio get a free shot eliminating largely property taxes. Can you tell the American people what will we vote on assuming you get enough signatures,
et cetera, which I think they will. Well, what are we voting on a November about real estate taxes?
So it could be on November ballot or I think it will probably be on the May ballot of next year. They have to get about six hundred thousand signatures and now less than about three weeks, so they're doing a lot. They're really good grassroots folks. But I envisioned probably next May, whatever it's on the ballot, Ohioans will be voting on. It's a very simple amendment that just says, you know, we're keealing or abolishing all real property taxes. Oh oh, and.
Yes, what happens to wait a minute, that's a great idea, you know in the spiritual world, that's great. Eliminate all real estate property taxes. Let's say we vote on that. How does schools and government fund itself?
Yeah? Property tax is the biggest tax in the state of Ohio, and pay the most tax through their property tax, which is probably the problem, and that's what we're working on the lead stage right now. It's twenty two billion dollars and all of that money, that twenty two billion dollars stays the local level. The state doesn't get any of it. So that's twenty two billions at that word to go away. Those are your commercial properties paying that,
your public utilities paying it, and your individuals. If that goes away, You're exactly right. We still have to fund our police, our fire, schools, roads, all those things. We would My assumption is, I don't want to speak for the future, but local governments already have the ability to use other revenue sources besides property. They're just so tied to the idea that we've got to use property tax
to fund our services. We can't use other means. But our counties actually have sales tax, right and our villages, our cities, and our schools actually have the income tax. And we're already asking them. You've got to shift over or decrease your spending. Pre tax side is way too overburdened. But if all the property goes away, will likely just allow them to have whatever income tax, whatever sales tax the voters will approve, and that will be how we
fund our services. It would be on average about a three times either three times the sales tax you're currently paying or three times the income tax are currently paying for all those services. That's just how big property taxes are.
So let's get practical. Let's say the city of Maderra, the city of Deer Park. Let's talk about the village of Indian Hill around our area, Sycamore. You're a little bit north of there, and it's very expensive to send your kid to Maderra, Indian Hill, Marymont Schools, Mason very expensive to go there, and the real estate taxes funds
most of what the schools do. And so you're saying, if we vote in November or May to eliminate completely the real estate taxes, the burden will be on the city of Mason or the city of Maderra, the city a Dare Park, of the village of Indian Hill to enact some sort of a tax, likely an income tax, to raise the money to equal what was raised through the real estate tax. Is that correct?
Yes? Yeah, those cities which they can already do now they can, those cities would increase their income tax to make up for the property tax, and then the school which they can actually do now too, would increase their income tax to make up for the loss of the property tax.
Side, what if you're in a what if you're in a unincorporated township. Let's say I live in Sycamore Township. Sycamore Township, by law, cannot have an income tax. Well, how would the townships fund schools?
Yeah, townships would be a unique area because what a township makes and is is an area that only has property tax. That's why in our big reform bill we still allow them to have this inside village. But if all property tax were to go away, townships would essentially have no funding for their services that they're giving. My best guess is the townships would likely be funded through the counties with a sales tax shared fund.
So that means that Hamley County commissioners would have to raise you'd give this from the state. You would give the authority of Hamlety County commissioners maybe to raise the sales tax by an extra point or something. With the understanding that would fund the schools and other police services in the townships. Is that correct?
Yeah, you probably have to raise it a lot more than one point. Yeah. My guess is it probably would be anywhere. I don't know your finances, but probably between five and ten percent would be my assumption.
I mean so right right now in Hamley County, I think it's about seven percent. And so if the real estate tax went away, would the tax sales tax in Hamiley County be like twelve percent?
No? No, you you would probably be around seventeen to twenty percent. Say that again, because you would likely be around seventeen to twenty percent.
Of sales tax.
Yes.
Why man, let me get this straight. So if this passes, and if you give the voters an opportunity to vote
this real estate, it's going to pass. So he's saying, if that, if that passes and no money comes in real estate taxes in state of Ohio practical example, Hamilton County commissioners or tend to be liberal Democrats, unlike Warren County that tends to be conservative Republicans or Claremont County Butler County Conservative republic So you're saying, in order to equal the amount of money in that county, raised from the elimination of the property of real estate taxes, that
the sales tax would have to be around seventeen to twenty percent.
Yeah, not not seeing your exact financials, but knowing kind of you know how much it takes on average to replace, and knowing frankly that you all, like my area in Ashibula are a border county, and so you're going to lose revenue from people leaving the state to go buy things in West Virginia or Kentucky are different places like that. Yes,
you're gonna have to have that high. In addition, one of the kind of aspects to property tax is that public utilities pay property tax, commercial buildings pay property tax. If we were to completely eliminate commercial and public utility property tax along with residential, well now it's going to be the individuals paying that portion. If the county commissioners, as you said, are wanting to make up that total
revenue dollar for dollar, wow, much higher. So we're trying to reflect from the system and make it much more responsive to the taxpayers because there's always unintended consequences. But I feel for our homeowners and our taxpayers, they're tapped out. Yeah, it's an extreme situation right now.
You know I shouldn't, I shouldn't use his name, but I will. Rocky Boyman, my running mate. Here as a spread of ponderosa in western Hamlin County and east complaining as many I complain about real estate taxes. And you give the average person an opportunity to eliminate the real estate tax, they're going to do it. Now you use
the term unintended consequences. But if that happens and it's voted down and we don't have any more real estate taxes quickly that Hamiony County commissioners are going to have to raise the sales tax, which is called going to call us a bleeding of Hamilton County residents. I mean, you're north to here, but I can look high in the building and I can see Kenton County. I can see Campbell County. I can see Boone County, Kentucky. I can see Lawrenceburg, which are great communities to live in.
I would think there'd be an outflow from Hamlety County to the surrounding counties. Maybe that wouldn't happen where you are, but in Columbus it probably would. But in Cincinnati we would leave.
Right, that's one potential. That's a problem.
That's a problem.
That's a problem, and that's why tackling our tax system has to be It's the number one thing that people call about. It's the number one thing that I've been working on. And I think, you know, preventing these shoot spikes that we've seen in the last five years, giving people a direct property tax cuts they're going to see in January, and hopefully then decide, you know, we're gonna limit property taxes, We're gonna bring them down. But yes, it's there's a lot to think about, all right.
Representative Dave Thomas, you're not related to Wendy's Burgers.
Uh.
Nonetheless, about a minute remaining, there's a sense, Uh, you're not in charge of this as much as you are the real estate taxes. Your effort there is good, I like the name of it, the Property Tax Relief Now Act. But nonetheless, there's a sense that the Browns are getting like four or five undred million dollars, the Bengals are getting nothing. What's your sense of whether there's going to be a large amount of money from the Unclaimed Fund
section to pay for all these stadiums in Cleveland? And Cincinnati. What's your sense.
Yeah, the Senate plan was very different than our House plan, so that's part of the budget process, and now we're going to come together and see you where that's going to fall. I don't know how it's going to shake out. I know folks did not see me very happy about using unclaimed funds, using actual tax dollars for this, But that's someone's money that's sitting there. The House plan wouldn't have used people's tax dollars, and it would have been
a very different funding mechanism. So I think still a lot to work through.
I think one sales point I Representative Dave Thomas, if we vote to eliminate the real estate taxes, if voters know that in eliminating that that in municipalities, the voters have to approve a large income tax increase or a large sales tax increase, or a combination of both. There's no such thing as at free lunch. Maybe that would dampen down some of it. Maybe your act would help that, but I can't imagine paying seventeen to twenty percent of
a sales tax in Hamilton County. I we're talking, and that's what's going to be required to substitute for the real estate taxes if that goes away, and that's you have to get out your pencil and figure that out. But you're saying it's going to be a significant increase of the sales tax and nor the income tax. One way or another, the piper must be paid. Well, Dave Thomas, good luck to you. And this is going to come to a head wind like in three weeks and the end of June.
Our bill, yes, our bill, House Book three thirty five. The goal is to have it done by in the June, and that way folks see release starting the summer and really in January twenty twenty six.
It's got to happen because I can't imagine that the outflow of residents of Hamilton County, in Claremont County and Butler County in the Indiana, in Kentucky. If we have a twenty percent sales tax along with increases in the income taxes municipalities that pay for all this, people are going to leave and then it's going to be a tipping point and that's not good. Well, Dave Thomas, good luck to you, and say hi to your daughter Wendy whenever you see her. And once again, thanks for coming
on the Bill Cunningham Show and Representative Dave Thomas. You're a great American. Thank you, thank you, sir, God bless you a Let's continue with more. Unbelievable, unbelievable and uh, when I had this brief conversation with the rock sitting there, he said, Yo, man, I'm paying. I don't know what he gave me a number. I don't want to deal
his personal business. It was a big number. Eliminate all that. Well, that's good, but then how do police and fire in the schools actually do something all Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham News Radio seven hundred w AUTIM