Ohio House Passes Budget Plan that Delivers Historic Property Tax Relief for Ohioans, Implements Nation's Second Lowest Income Tax Rate

Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and State Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) today announced that the Ohio House of Representatives approved the conference committee report for Am. Sub. House Bill 96 – the State Operating Budget. The conservative, balanced and commonsense budget plan, which allocates funding for state programs and operations for the next two years, approves historic property tax relief for Ohioans, implements a flat tax rate and provides a record amount of state funding for school districts. 

“It’s vitally important that as elected officials, members of the state legislature listen to the voices of Ohioans and address their priorities – and this budget delivers on that promise,” said Speaker Huffman. “By providing meaningful and record tax relief, investing in education, and focusing on Ohio families, we are building a stronger future for our state.”

“This budget provides historic income tax relief, and meaningful, broad-based property tax relief for every Ohioan. This budget sends the signal to job creators, workers, families, and to everyone in America that is looking to build a better life: we are rolling out the welcome mat, and we want you to achieve your American Dream here in Ohio,” said Rep. Stewart, Finance Chairman. “It has been an honor to serve as Chairman of the Finance Committee and to work with Speaker Huffman to deliver a conservative, common-sense, balanced budget for Ohio.”

DELIVERING HISTORIC PROPERTY TAX RELIEF TO OHIOANS 
Ohioans all over the state have called on the legislature to tackle rising property taxes, and members of the Ohio House are providing historic relief for taxpayers as soon as January 2026. The budget implements a process for schools that carry forward more than 40% of their general budget in unspent cash at the end of each year to be distributed back to Ohioans in property tax relief. District cash carryovers have increased year-over-year from $3.6 billion to $10.5 billion since tracking began in 2012. Utilizing carryover data from 2024, and assuming school district carryover amounts remain similar, the plan will save Ohioans over $2.5 billion in property taxes starting next year.

“We are empowering local school districts and governments to do the right thing and return some of their unspent money back to the taxpayers that gave it to them,” said Speaker Huffman.

A STRONGER ECONOMY WITH A FLAT TAX
Republicans in the legislature have continued to phase down the state income tax in recent years, providing savings for Ohioans. The new budget plan takes the top tax bracket down from 3.5% to 3.125% in tax year 2025 and down to 2.75% in tax year 2026, and into the future. The move to a flat tax makes Ohio more competitive with surrounding states, simplifies the tax code, and spurs revenue. 

LANDMARK PROPERTY TAX REFORM 

In addition to billions in direct relief, the bill makes a variety of structural changes that aim to promote transparency, update the levy process and enhance checks and balances for property tax rates at the local level, ensuring that taxpayers see more direct control over ballooning property tax bills. The bill also provides direct relief to residential homeowners by allowing the Board of County Commissioners to provide up to a 2.5% owner-occupancy tax credit on a taxpayer’s bill (modeled off the state’s current owner-occupancy credit) for all residents and a permissive homestead exemption for those who qualify for the state homestead exemptions.

BOOSTING FUNDING FOR OHIO SCHOOLS 

The budget prioritizes the education and well-being of Ohio students, ensuring that school districts receive a record amount of funding, which amounts to nearly $700 million more for public education over the biennium than they received in FY’ 25. 

REVITALIZING LOCAL COMMUNITIES 
House Bill 96 continues to invest in various state initiatives that help solidify Ohio as the best place in the nation to live, work, raise a family and start a business. The bill increases funding for Brownfield Remediation, provides funding to help with blight, further expands the Welcome Home Ohio program, and helps address the housing shortage across the state through two new targeted initiatives designed to incentivize additional single family home construction. 

The Budget also includes a provision that uses unclaimed, abandoned funds for sports and cultural activities in Ohio, with the ultimate goal of spurring economic development. The bill uses just over a billion dollars for cultural and sports facilities performance grants, including the Browns Brook Park mixed use economic development stadium project, which will receive $600 million. As part of the provision, the Browns are required to put $50 million in escrow with strict guarantees built around the state receiving more money in tax revenue from the project over 16 years than the original grant amount.

SUPPORTING OHIO FAMILIES 
To help families who need assistance paying for child care, the budget establishes the Child Care Choice program, providing $100 million for eligible families, helping more Ohioans cover the cost of needed child care services. The bill also invests in the OhioSEE program and increases funding for the Help Me Grow program, which is a system of supports for pregnant women, caregivers with new babies, and families with young children with developmental delays and disabilities. 

EMPOWERING SCHOOL CHOICE  

House Bill 96 continues the state’s commitment to school choice by increasing the maximum awards for the Autism Scholarship and Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarships while also establishing an option for parents whose children attend a non-chartered non-public school to utilize an education savings account to help with the cost of their education.  The bill also enhances the state’s current home education tax credit.

BACKING THE BLUE

This budget invests in supporting law enforcement and promoting public safety by providing $65 million over the biennium for local law enforcement training, $21 million over the biennium to support local costs of the MARCS program, which helps equip first responders to better respond to emergency situations, and $27 million over the biennium for the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center. Additionally, the budget includes $8 million to provide grants to small county volunteer fire departments. 

PRIORITIZING WORKFORCE READINESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

This budget makes a marked effort to prioritize workforce readiness in Ohio, investing in various higher education programs such as the Governor’s Merit Scholarship, the Choose Ohio First Scholarship, and an increase in the State Share of Instruction by 1% each year, helping lower costs for students at Ohio’s state institutions of higher education. 

PROMOTING HEALTHCARE TRANSPARENCY 
In an effort to promote transparency in the Medicaid program, the bill works to protect taxpayer dollars and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse through a number of provisions, creating a variety of new reporting requirements that the Ohio Department of Medicaid must follow and ensures that important audits will be conducted on state Medicaid spending. 

House Bill 96 now goes to the Governor for consideration.