Iappreciated the Plain Dealer analysis tracing Ohio’s legislative actions that, incrementally, have sapped local communities of adequate funding and spiked home property taxes (“ Exemptions: Who pays when others don’t?” , Aug. 17). Taxpayers now calling for the extreme “fix” of eliminating property taxes misplace blame: Their proposal - removing the proximal pain of high taxes - threatens local schools, libraries, and governments central to communities’ quality of life, leaving intact the actual driver(s) of our tax burden.

The deepest cause of high property taxes? Longstanding single-party Republican rule. Citizens packed into gerrymandered state districts, whose representatives can safely ignore the priorities of two-thirds of their constituents (i.e., independent and Democratic voter

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