Latest / Brian Thomas / State Rep Mark Hiner - Property tax relief resolution

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State Rep Mark Hiner - Property tax relief resolution · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: From fifty five KRS the Talk Station.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, thirty nine Here fifty five KRC the Talk Station.
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  Speaker 2: Brian Thomas wishing everybody a very happy Monday, invitation to
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  Speaker 2: tune in tomorrow for the inside Scoopy Bright Bart News
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  Speaker 2: and a Daniel Davis deep dive. And I'm so pleased
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  Speaker 2: to see on the rundown and to welcome to the
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  Speaker 2: fifty five KRC Morning Show from Ohio District ninety eight,
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  Speaker 2: just south of Cleveland. State Representative Mark Heiner. Mark, thank
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  Speaker 2: you for coming on the program this morning, and so
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  Speaker 2: it's a real treasure to have you on here.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, good morning, Thanks for having me on, Brian.
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  Speaker 2: And let us dive into Mark, I know you got
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  Speaker 2: the memo. We have some problems with property tax here
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  Speaker 2: in the state of Ohio that post COVID property tax increase.
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  Speaker 2: Some bills went up a third, someone up fifty percent.
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  Speaker 2: Some houses in some areas I saw their property tax
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  Speaker 2: bill went up like sixty percent. Widely reported that about
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  Speaker 2: a very sizable chunk of property owners in Ohio now
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  Speaker 2: can no longer afford to pay the property tax, which
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  Speaker 2: means are effectively being evicted from a home they may
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  Speaker 2: very well have owned. This is like taxing capital gains
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  Speaker 2: before you realize the capital gain. We made that argument
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  Speaker 2: many times here in the Morning Show. But frustration mounted
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  Speaker 2: to the point where now there's a ballot petition circulating
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  Speaker 2: to get on the Ohio ballot probably next year, a
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  Speaker 2: constitutional amendment that would eliminate property taxes in Ohio. Now
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  Speaker 2: other states don't have property tax, but we do in Ohio,
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  Speaker 2: and the complications that arise are almost too much to
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  Speaker 2: even break down. But if you eliminate property tax, so
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  Speaker 2: much of what is funded by property tax would have
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  Speaker 2: to be funded by a different mechanism. You think police, fire, parks, recreation.
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  Speaker 2: We could go on and on and on. So eliminated
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  Speaker 2: completely is going to create Will it be insurmountable challenges
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  Speaker 2: for you and they're elected officials in Columbus? Or is
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  Speaker 2: there a better way, like, for example, your resolution which
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  Speaker 2: let us a vote on maybe just eliminating property taxes
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  Speaker 2: from primary ownership from homes where you're the owner occupied homes. Mark,
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  Speaker 2: can you explain this to my listeners and do we
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  Speaker 2: have a path or this way?
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  Speaker 1: Well, you're exactly right, and my you know the biggest
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  Speaker 1: problem with property tax is all of that money stays local.
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  Speaker 1: It's your fire department, your libraries, your school district, and
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  Speaker 1: and you know people want those services, so you know,
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  Speaker 1: to just abolish your fire department and ems departments that
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  Speaker 1: we can't do that. So you know, I've watched the
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  Speaker 1: abolished movement and I don't disagree with their premise, but
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  Speaker 1: there is a serious problem in replacing that funding. It's
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  Speaker 1: twenty four billion dollars statewide, and quite frankly, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know where we would get it from. The cuts to
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  Speaker 1: government would be so deep that we would get to
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  Speaker 1: cutting things that people don't want cut. So you know,
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  Speaker 1: as I looked at it and thought about it, I thought,
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  Speaker 1: you know, well, there's got to be a better way
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  Speaker 1: where we don't have to go quite as deep. And
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  Speaker 1: my premise with this resolution is we would continue to
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  Speaker 1: tax businesses. They're making money, so they're making money, they
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  Speaker 1: can afford to pay some tax. If you own two homes,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to pay tax on one of them. And
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  Speaker 1: my premises if you've got enough money to own to homes,
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  Speaker 1: you can afford to pay some tax. So I'm you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to find a way to get some
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  Speaker 1: fairness and some balance in this thing and provide real
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  Speaker 1: relief to the people that are getting hit by this.
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  Speaker 1: These increases, they're still coming, they're not over yet. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, if you're on a fixed income on Social Security,
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  Speaker 1: you get maybe a two or three percent annual increase,
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  Speaker 1: yet your property tax bills going up thirty percent a year,
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  Speaker 1: and well, we cannot chase people out of their homes.
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  Speaker 1: That just is not a non starter for me.
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  Speaker 2: Representative Mark Kiner. You know, I just read a yet
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  Speaker 2: another report speaking of social security and fixed incomes. Our
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  Speaker 2: seniors out there may be facing a twenty two percent
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  Speaker 2: reduction in their monthly Social Security check if they don't
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  Speaker 2: sal's that's one mechanism to salvage social Security, which you know,
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  Speaker 2: the trust funds running out, the writing's on the wall.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty thirty two is like the deadline for that. So
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  Speaker 2: you're you're going in opposite directions, less social Security money,
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  Speaker 2: unfixed in coming to higher property tax wasn't House Bill
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  Speaker 2: one eighty six some measure of relief from the you know,
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  Speaker 2: the the thirty fifty six percent increases in taxes here
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  Speaker 2: in Ohio, that's been an effect since March, But it
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  Speaker 2: just doesn't lower the bill does house built one eighty six?
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  Speaker 1: No, And and I've been frustrated because the reductions have
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  Speaker 1: not been consistent. I represent three different counties and one
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  Speaker 1: of them got a massive decrease, one of them was flat,
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  Speaker 1: and one of them had a little bit of a decrease.
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  Speaker 1: So it you know, one eighty six. And I've supported
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  Speaker 1: all of the bills that give any sort of relief
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  Speaker 1: at all, uh, because I think we have to do
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  Speaker 1: everything we can, but it's it's not enough in my opinion.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, the more I look at it, I
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  Speaker 1: you know, I think we can get rid of it.
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  Speaker 1: For owner occupied homes, it's ten billion dollars that you've
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  Speaker 1: got to replace. Uh. The money has to come from somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: And you know the other side of this that that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know about yet is we've
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  Speaker 1: been working over the summer trying to figure out where
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  Speaker 1: that money would come from. And the plan is to
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  Speaker 1: introduce a second bill that would explain that. So when
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  Speaker 1: you go to vote on this, if we can get
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  Speaker 1: it onto the ballot, you will understand exactly what's going
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  Speaker 1: to happen. Your property tax will go away, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: here will be what the changes are, and you can
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  Speaker 1: decide whether that's good or bad and vote accordingly.
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  Speaker 2: Ten billion dollars a year by eliminating the owner occupied
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  Speaker 2: residential property taxes, you know, and the swirling numbers were
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  Speaker 2: surrounded by all the time. Representative Mark Heiner from the
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  Speaker 2: ninety eighth district here in the state of Ohio billions
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  Speaker 2: and billions in fraud, waste, and abuse. And we all
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  Speaker 2: know government's probably a little bit too big here in
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  Speaker 2: the state of Ohio relative to other governments. When you
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  Speaker 2: look at, like, for example, a state like Florida, the
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  Speaker 2: amount of money Florida spends annually from their government and
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  Speaker 2: the lower taxes they have, it's almost it's like an
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  Speaker 2: amazing recipe for success that has been revealed by the
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  Speaker 2: state of Florida. What is How is it that Ohio
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  Speaker 2: just sort of can't flip a switch and then be
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  Speaker 2: like Florida, for example, in terms of government and its expenditures.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I agree with you completely. It's it's difficult.
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  Speaker 1: I always compare government to a train going down the tracks.
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  Speaker 1: It's difficult. You can't make a ninety degree turn. You
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  Speaker 1: if you're lucky, you can nudget and veer off a
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  Speaker 1: slightly different direction. You know, there's your Your previous segment
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  Speaker 1: was talking about the lobbying efforts on the federal tax. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and you know there's a lot of lobbyists at play
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  Speaker 1: that that you know rightfully, so our lobbying for their
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  Speaker 1: for their constituency, trying to make sure that things don't change.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, we're just to a point where we've
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  Speaker 1: got to have serious conversations about these things. We cannot
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  Speaker 1: keep doing this to our taxpayers.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's protecting their slice of the pie. Immediately, the
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  Speaker 2: teachers Union's popped in my head because of course this
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  Speaker 2: represents a threat to school funding, like really like police
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  Speaker 2: funding and fire funding it as well. They're protecting their
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  Speaker 2: own interest, which means you and I agree, and I
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  Speaker 2: think there's probably no one in Columbus disagree with the
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  Speaker 2: realities that we have here. Property tax is a problem
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  Speaker 2: for all constituents, regardless of political stripe. That way you
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  Speaker 2: help out is you curb the government spending, which rubs
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  Speaker 2: the people the wrong way who have these lobbying interests,
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  Speaker 2: like the teachers union, they want to keep the status quo,
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  Speaker 2: but we can't do that. So this really comes down
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  Speaker 2: to getting re elected or winning in an election, because
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  Speaker 2: if you if you turn your back and you go
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  Speaker 2: the direction of property tax reform, and those dollars are
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  Speaker 2: reduced to these bobbyists out there that want their slice
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  Speaker 2: of the pie. They're not gonna support your campaign, and
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  Speaker 2: that's fine, but will end up in a better way
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  Speaker 2: the degree turn will be making that turn. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you can't do that. One need to turn and turn
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  Speaker 2: into Florida overnight. But you got to get there at
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  Speaker 2: some point. You got to start somewhere. And that's gonna
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  Speaker 2: rub that's gonna ruffle some feathers out there. I'm sorry.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe sucks to be you people who've had your feathers ruffled.
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  Speaker 2: We need to go in this direction for the benefit
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  Speaker 2: of the state of Ohio and all people.
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  Speaker 1: No, you're you're right, and I'm in complete agreement. And
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  Speaker 1: it's it is. You know a lot of people look
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  Speaker 1: at this, you know, House Resolution seven, and they say, well,
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  Speaker 1: that's impossible, you'll never get that done. And they may
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  Speaker 1: be right. I don't know, but if we don't try,
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  Speaker 1: we certainly won't get it done. So you know, I'm
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  Speaker 1: I'm willing to make big, you know, big bold suggestions.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if this is the perfect solution.
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  Speaker 1: If it starts a conversation that leads to the perfect solution,
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  Speaker 1: so be it. I don't even care if I get
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  Speaker 1: the credit for it. I just want to get this
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  Speaker 1: work done. We've got to fix this problem.
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  Speaker 2: Well mark in terms of whether this has any legs
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  Speaker 2: or it could actually be passed, why wouldn't it get passed.
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  Speaker 2: If the people of the state of Ohio circulate a
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  Speaker 2: ballot petition and put it on the ballot to eliminate completely,
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  Speaker 2: that's twenty plus billion that'll be taken out of the coffers.
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  Speaker 2: This just takes just takes ten billion out and gives
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  Speaker 2: the relief that the single owner occupied homes are looking for.
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  Speaker 2: So I think it has a very good potential.
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  Speaker 1: No, and I do too. I think it makes a
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  Speaker 1: lot of sense. It's, you know, instead of looking for
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  Speaker 1: twenty four billion, we're looking for ten and But but
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, the real answer is,
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  Speaker 1: in order for this to get traction, I need the
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  Speaker 1: abolished people that get their signatures to keep the pressure
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  Speaker 1: on my colleagues to keep this moving because it's you know, politically,
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  Speaker 1: there's there's not a lot of benefit for a politician
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  Speaker 1: to make big, bold suggestions because if we get it wrong,
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  Speaker 1: then then you're the bad guy. It's a lot easier
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  Speaker 1: to just maintain the status quo and make small, incremental change.
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  Speaker 1: And and you know, you've got to be careful when
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  Speaker 1: government's making big dramatic change because more often enough they
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  Speaker 1: get it wrong. So, you know, and that's the other
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  Speaker 1: piece of this. I want to make sure we have
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  Speaker 1: a statewide conversation about this, yeah, and everyone has inputs
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  Speaker 1: so we get it right, because every change you make
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  Speaker 1: has a consequence that you've got to think about. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we we don't want seniors on the streets
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  Speaker 1: and children not getting lunch at school and all that
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  Speaker 1: kind of stuff. All you know, all the things that
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  Speaker 1: get that that get said. But you know, we we
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  Speaker 1: just we need to look at all this with a
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  Speaker 1: big picture of view and make sure we get it right.
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  Speaker 1: And I think we can.
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  Speaker 2: I think you can as well. So I tell you
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  Speaker 2: what a representative hinder. It has been a real pleasure
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  Speaker 2: to have you on the program, and I appreciate your
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  Speaker 2: maybe call it out of the box thinking, but I
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  Speaker 2: think the idea that you have presented with this House
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  Speaker 2: Resolution seven, which if adopted, will give us a chance
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  Speaker 2: to vote on it, as opposed to it just being
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  Speaker 2: legislation passed and pushed through and probably not signed by
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  Speaker 2: Governor to wine. But it's an excellent idea. I like
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  Speaker 2: it conceptually. It's not as painful for all these other
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  Speaker 2: entities out there as completely eliminating the property tax, and
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  Speaker 2: I think we can survive without the actual ten billion
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  Speaker 2: dollars in Ohio's government. Correct, quite and honest with you, sir,
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  Speaker 2: You're all come here in the fifty five CASCE Morning
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  Speaker 2: Shore anytime if this bill moves forward, if you got
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  Speaker 2: some action on it, or something else you want to
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  Speaker 2: talk about with my listeners, I will appreciate you coming
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  Speaker 2: back on and you're welcome to do so, sir. And
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  Speaker 2: between now and then, I hope you have a wonderful,
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  Speaker 2: wonderful day and week