You’re not imagining things. Taxes just keep getting higher and higher — at least when it comes to property taxes. Axios, an American news website based in Arlington, Virginia, reports median property taxes in Ohio rose 23.1% from 2019 to 2023. That’s higher than the national average increase of 21.6%.

Axios quoted CoreLogic data that says median property taxes on U.S. single-family homes rose to $2,877 in 2023 from $2,367 in 2019. In Ohio, those figures are $2,530 in 2023 up from $2,054 in 2019.

Home prices are rising across the country, too, with the annual income required to afford a median-priced home up an astounding 23.8% year-over-year in 2023, based on Redfin data. Redfin says the Akron, Dayton and Cleveland metro areas all require approximately $60,000 annual income to buy a home.

“As U.S. home prices have continued to rise and reach record highs, millions of owners are feeling the pinch from soaring property taxes,” CoreLogic principal economist Yanling Mayer wrote, according to Axios.

Scarcity is certainly one reason for price increases. There simply isn’t enough quality, affordable housing available in Ohio to meet the demand. What development is promised to be on the way is out of reach for those who can’t afford to move within commuting distance of it.

Ohio lawmakers are working on ideas for addressing the housing crisis. Property taxes play a role — some say they support capping property taxes paid by low-income residents. It’s an idea, but what does that do to school and community funding?

There are no easy answers, though some ideas make more sense than others. Helping local governments revise outdated zoning codes is a fantastic idea. Creating a statewide pro-development campaign with a slogan like “Ohio Says YIMBY” just reeks of determination to throw money as far in the opposite direction of the problem as the government can manage.

Whatever ideas are being batted around, it is clear Ohioans who are already in their homes are struggling with skyrocketing property taxes, and those who haven’t yet been able to buy can be forgiven for thinking they’re just out of luck.

This isn’t a problem that will be solved only in Columbus. State lawmakers can be part of the solution (if they decide to do it right), but elected officials and policymakers in smaller communities and counties have got to get on board, too.

editorial@vindy.com