The movement to eliminate property taxes in Ohio was born in Northeast Ohio, in Lake County. A supporter of that campaign, Republican Lake County Commissioner John Plecnik, says lawmakers would go a long way toward reducing Ohioans' anger over rising rates if they got rid of property taxes for seniors. Plecnik understands property taxes from a number of perspectives. He teaches tax law at Cleveland State University. He's also a former Willoughby Hills council member and a past trustee for the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library. He spoke with Ideastream Public Media's Amy Eddings for "Ideastream Explores: Property Taxes."
Of all the roles you've played, or play, which one has shaped how you think about property taxes?
All of them, because you get to see the issue from multiple sides, the homeowner who pays the bills, the public servant who has to make the budget work, and the professor whose job it is to research the issue and find better solutions for the future.
You support Lake County resident Brian Massie’s “ax the tax” constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes altogether. But you’ve said it is a “blunt instrument” to get tax relief. You’d like to see something less drastic: an elimination of property taxes for homeowners age 65 and up. And you say the state has the money for that.
[State] Senator Al Cutrona from Mahoning County, he actually costed it out because he's proposed a bill [Senate Bill 206] for a 50% exemption for seniors for property taxes. And that came out at $1.5 billion, according to the state Senate. You don't have to be a tax professor to multiply that by two and say a 100% exemption would cost $3 billion, or less than 3% of Ohio's all-funds budget. That's an inflation adjustment. This is a very modest, doable reform. There's not even a movement to consider that in the state legislature right now, other than this bill, which has sat in committee and just hasn't moved.
What gets cut in order to support a property tax exemption for seniors?
Honestly, I think the first thing that gets cut is waste, fraud, and abuse. We're hearing a lot about this. We're hear about daycares and companies with no employees and all these COVID grants that have been fraudulently strewn out over Ohio. There are state reps that I've talked to that see at least four, five, six billion dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse. That's a huge savings just by doing things the right way.
The "ax the property tax" movement [formally known as the Committee to Eliminate Property Taxes] that emerged out of Lake County failed to get enough signatures to get a property tax ban on the ballot this November. Commissioner, do you think we'll see something in 2027, or do you think the inability to get enough signatures shows that Ohioans understand how important property taxes are and that it's just not the right solution?
I want to share a few data points. First of all, how likely is this amendment to pass were it to make the ballot? When I was at Vivek's kitchen table...
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio.
He actually invited myself, Brian Massie and several others who've been pushing for reform of property taxes to his kitchen table, in his home, right outside of Columbus. He shared with us that he'd been polling the issue, because he recognizes that this is, if not the, it's one of the most important issues on the minds of Ohioans today. And he said that his last poll showed 65% support by voters for this issue. We've seen a lot of other polls come out and they all tend to show majority or supermajority support for abolishing property taxes. That's data point number one. If it were to get on the ballot, very likely to pass. Data point number two, how is likely is it to get on the ballot. I think that's your principal question. Remember that Brian Massie announced that he'd collected over 305,000 signatures about month ago prior to his announcement that there's just not enough to make the ballot this year. Brian is a constituent of mine. I know him well. And he's told me point blank that there's never been a week where they have collected fewer signatures than the previous week. So, this movement is building momentum. It's not going down. And that's a good thing whether you want to abolish property taxes or not. I always tell people, sign the petition either way so that the state reps and senators actually do their job and cut property taxes in a meaningful way. If that were to happen, I suspect a lot of people would go home and say, that's enough. We don't need to flip the entire table over and start fresh. But if Columbus continues to ignore the will of the people and does nothing, Brian Massie will be there next year, and if I had to bet, he'll have the signatures and he'll be ready to pass that amendment.
Regarding the polls Commissioner Plecnik cited, one was by Fallon Research & Communications in August 2025, which found 61% of 500 Ohio adults surveyed supported an end to property taxes. Another poll, by WTOV9 last February, found 86% of Ohio residents favor abolishing property taxes, while 14% want to keep them. Both were conducted before a coalition of civil servant unions, trade groups and elected representatives called Ohioans to Protect Public Services launched an opposition campaign in April. The group says if property taxes are abolished, 32,000 first responders and 50,000 teachers could lose their jobs. The coalition also warns of a 20% increase in the sales tax, echoing Gov. Mike DeWine and other state leaders. Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign said the candidate and Plecnik met but declined to say what was discussed.
As for the amount of fraud in Ohio Medicaid, the most recent audit by Ohio Auditor Keith Faber found $825 million to $4.4 billion in potential financial impact from unsupported Medicaid claims, "including payments made on behalf of ineligible individuals and deceased recipients." The office said the findings reflect "systemic weaknesses in eligibility verification, provider integrity controls, and claims processing that have persisted across multiple audit cycles."
