Ron Shumate stands with a sign in front of his home in Springfield Township, Ohio, on April 21, 2026. Shumate said the property tax system discourages homeowners from making improvements such as additions, renovations, or swimming pools. Glenn Hartong for The Epoch Times
MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio—At a petition table inside a Cleveland area gun show on a drizzly Saturday afternoon, citizens talk of an American Dream derailed.
There’s the elderly couple who paid off their mortgage decades ago but can’t afford the property taxes on their home. Their local government, theoretically, can seize the property and auction it off to someone else if the annual bills remain unpaid.
