In Columbus, Ohio, a new push to cut property taxes is zeroing in on the local levies that appear on almost every homeowner’s bill. A fresh proposal in the Ohio House would stack new state-funded discounts on top of what voters already approved, offering relief without dismantling the property tax system. Layered onto several recent reforms, the idea sharpens a broader question: is Ohio easing pressure on taxpayers, or quietly reshaping how schools and local services are funded?
House Bill 28, part of the 136th General Assembly, sits at the center of this shift. It targets “replacement” property tax levies that have long been a staple of local finance. A second bill would give an extra 2.5% discount on local levies and gradually raise that break to 15.38%. Supporters describe the two bills together as broad help for homeowners. Yet the tradeoffs for city halls, school boards and taxpayers who rely on other state services are only starting to come into focus.
HB 28’s core promise on levies
House Bill 28 is listed in the 136th General Assembly as a property tax measure, with its subject and current text posted on the official House docket. Backers describe the bill as a direct strike at replacement property tax levies. These levies allow local governments to reset the effective tax rate on existing millage when property values rise. In plain terms, replacement levies help local officials collect more money from the same voter-approved rate as home values go up, without asking voters for a brand-new levy.
Supporters say HB 28 would stop local authorities from using that tool to capture extra revenue from rising values unless they return to the ballot. When the Ohio House approved the bill, supporters framed the move as a structural fix. In a public statement, Rep. David Thomas said he voted to eliminate replacement property tax levies through HB 28, calling it a way to protect taxpayers who feel blindsided by higher bills. The measure is now listed on the Senate calendar, which tracks its current status. Taken together, House passage and Senate review show that lawmakers are not just trimming rates at the edges. They are trying to close off a tool local governments have relied on for decades to keep up with inflation and growth.
New bill extends relief to all local levies
While HB 28 focuses on how levies are structured, a separate proposal would change how much homeowners actually pay on those local lines. Reporting from Columbus describes a new Ohio bill that targets property tax relief “for all local levies,” extending state-backed discounts to voters who supported levies over roughly the last ten years. The measure is framed as a way to reward residents who have repeatedly agreed to tax themselves for schools, safety forces and other services by having the state pay a larger share of those costs.
The plan’s mechanics center on an extra 2.5% discount on local levies, with the proposal explaining that the discount would grow over time until it reaches 15.38% for eligible levies. Coverage of the new relief bill notes that it is aimed at levies voters have approved in the past decade. If enacted, this structure would shift a growing share of qualifying levy costs from homeowners’ checks to the state budget. For example, if a homeowner now pays $1,000 a year on a school levy that qualifies, a full 15.38% discount would cut that line by about $154, with the state covering the difference.
How HB 28 fits into Ohio’s broader tax overhaul
HB 28 is not arriving in a vacuum. It follows a set of property tax bills that state leaders have branded as historic relief. On December 19, 2025, the Governor signed a package of four major property tax bills, including House Bill 186, which introduced what supporters call the STOP THE SPIKES plan. An official summary of HB 186 explains that it includes a 20-mill floor inflation cap. That cap is meant to limit how much property tax bills can jump when property values surge, especially in fast-growing counties.
These changes roll out over several years. Coverage of the timing notes that some parts of HB 186 will not show up until property tax bills mailed in 2027 for tax year 2026. It also reports that House Bill 335 will affect taxes in tax year 2028, with changes that will alter how much some property owners pay and how much the state spends. The same report on upcoming changes notes that HB 335 is scheduled to influence bills in 2028 and that one part of HB 186 will not take effect until those 2027 mailings. When HB 28 and the new levy-discount bill are layered on top of this staggered schedule, Ohio’s property tax system starts to look like a patchwork of caps, credits and structural bans that phase in over time rather than a single, simple reform.
Lawmakers’ message: “meaningful” relief
Supporters of these changes argue they are delivering what homeowners have demanded for years. In a January statement about the broader property tax agenda, Rep. Workman said, “The Ohio Legislature has worked diligently to provide meaningful property tax relief for Ohioans.” Majority leaders want residents to see HB 186’s cap, HB 335’s later adjustments and HB 28’s levy limits as parts of a single plan to calm rising bills, not as scattered tweaks.
Real estate groups have echoed that message. A summary from the statewide realtors’ association noted that Governor DeWine signed all four property tax reform bills in December 2025 and said homeowners would feel the impact on their bills. That reaction suggests that key players in the housing market expect the combined effect of these laws to ease some of the sticker shock from recent valuation updates. At the same time, the upbeat tone from lawmakers and industry groups tends to gloss over a harder question: how will local governments adapt if their main revenue source is capped, discounted and structurally restricted at the same time?
The hidden cost question for schools and cities
The largest unknown around HB 28 and the new local-levy discount is not whether they cut tax bills, but who ultimately absorbs the lost revenue. Replacement levies have been one of the few tools local governments could use to keep revenue from eroding when state policy compressed rates or when older levies lost strength over time. If HB 28 eliminates replacement property tax levies as Rep. Thomas describes, and if the state also starts covering an additional 2.5% of local levies with a path to 15.38%, then school districts, counties and cities may see slower revenue growth even as their costs rise for wages, health care and utilities.
Current coverage often treats the state-funded discount as “free” to local governments because the state, not the district, would pay the extra share. That assumption deserves more scrutiny. The money for those discounts has to come from somewhere in the state budget. A report examining the idea of fully repealing property taxes in Ohio, titled “There’s No Good Way to Pay for Property Tax Repeal,” illustrates the scale of the tradeoff. It found that replacing all property tax revenue could require income tax rates of 15% and sales tax rates of 18%, according to a statewide study. HB 28 and the levy discount stop far short of repeal, but the study’s warning hints at a broader reality: shifting more of the property tax load to the state may expose local services to the ups and downs of state-level politics and revenue.
What homeowners might actually feel
For homeowners, the immediate question is simple: how much will my bill change, and when? The answer depends on which reforms apply to a given property and levy. Part of HB 186 will affect property tax bills mailed in 2027 for tax year 2026, and HB 335 will affect taxes in tax year 2028. If the new levy-discount bill passes as described, an additional 2.5% discount would start to show up on qualifying local levies, with the discount gradually increasing to 15.38% for levies approved in the last decade. HB 28’s effect is more indirect. By eliminating replacement property tax levies, it aims to slow the growth of future bills rather than cut existing charges.
Based on these timelines, many homeowners in Ohio are likely to see property tax relief arrive in waves rather than as a single, dramatic drop. Earlier reforms like the 20-mill floor inflation cap in HB 186 will start to limit spikes, while the new levy discount will lower the state-funded share of certain local charges. If lawmakers follow through on both HB 28 and the discount plan, the combined effect may be most noticeable for homeowners in communities that rely heavily on voted levies for schools and safety services, because those are the lines where the state is promising to step in. Residents in areas that have not passed many levies may see less benefit, even as they share in the statewide cost of funding the discounts through other taxes or reduced services.
Predictions: stability for some, pressure for others
Looking ahead, there are two broad outcomes that seem more likely than not. First, for homeowners in rural and suburban counties where property values have climbed but local budgets remain tight, the mix of HB 28, HB 186 and the new levy discount could signal more predictable tax bills. If the 20-mill floor inflation cap tempers large jumps and the state-funded discount on local levies grows to 15.38%, that combination may help stabilize housing costs for long-time owners. Over several years, that stability could support modest gains in home values in those areas, as buyers factor in the expectation that tax spikes will be less severe and that the state is sharing more of the levy burden.
The second likely outcome is growing pressure on the state budget and on urban service providers. The property tax repeal study that modeled income tax rates as high as 15% to replace all property tax revenue shows how expensive it is to shift this burden to other taxes. While HB 28 and the levy discount are far smaller moves, they still push more responsibility onto the state. If economic growth slows or other demands on the budget grow, lawmakers may be tempted to trim aid or adjust formulas in ways that hit cities and large school districts hardest. That scenario would leave local leaders with fewer tools, since replacement levies would be gone and voters might be less willing to approve new millage after years of hearing that state leaders have already delivered major relief.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
Julian Harrow specializes in taxation, IRS rules, and compliance strategy. His work helps readers navigate complex tax codes, deadlines, and reporting requirements while identifying opportunities for efficiency and risk reduction. At The Daily Overview, Julian breaks down tax-related topics with precision and clarity, making a traditionally dense subject easier to understand.
