DeWine warns Ohio could need a 20% sales tax if voters abolish property taxes statewide

Governor frames property-tax repeal as a fiscal cliff for local services

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is warning that a citizen-driven effort to abolish property taxes could force dramatic changes to how the state funds schools and core local services, including the possibility of raising the statewide sales tax to levels far above current rates.

The warning comes as a group organizing under the name “Ax Ohio Tax” pursues a campaign to end property taxes through a constitutional amendment. DeWine said eliminating property taxes would remove a major revenue source that supports K-12 schools and a wide range of locally funded services such as police and fire departments, emergency medical response and children’s services. He said the result would be a statewide fiscal crisis and that lawmakers would be left to replace the lost revenue.

Why a 20% sales-tax scenario is being discussed

DeWine has pointed to two broad options state policymakers would have if property-tax revenue disappeared: large increases in income taxes, large increases in sales taxes, or some combination. In discussing the sales-tax alternative, he said rates could rise as high as 20% on purchases across Ohio.

Ohio’s current sales-tax environment already varies by county and transit authority levies. In Cuyahoga County, the combined rate is 8%, the highest in the state. A statewide move toward a much higher sales tax would therefore land on top of existing local add-ons in many places, increasing the effective rate paid at the register.

How big the funding gap could be

Public officials who have urged property-tax reform—rather than elimination—have described the scale of the revenue at risk as tens of billions of dollars annually. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has warned county leaders that voters are frustrated by rising property-tax bills and has argued that reforms should be enacted before a ballot measure eliminates the system entirely. In that context, he has cited roughly $20 billion in revenue tied to property taxes that support schools and local government.

Statehouse actions and the political backdrop

In December 2025, DeWine signed a package of bills aimed at reducing property-tax spikes and changing parts of how millage and school-district guarantees work. The measures included caps affecting certain types of property-tax growth and additional mechanisms intended to provide relief for homeowners while maintaining funding streams for schools and local entities.

• Property taxes are a primary local funding tool for schools and many countywide services.
• Abolition would require replacing large annual revenue totals through state-level taxes or major spending reductions.
• Ohio has recently enacted property-tax relief measures, signaling an effort to reform the system without dismantling it.

DeWine said eliminating property taxes would be “devastating” for schools and public safety services and would leave state leaders scrambling for replacement revenue.

The constitutional-amendment campaign remains in the signature-gathering and ballot-track phase, with the potential for the question to reach voters in 2026 if procedural requirements are met.