A University of Notre Dame study released Monday, July 21, found that a land-value tax applied in Hamilton County would cut the median homeowner's property tax bill by 10%. The finding could shape debate in Evendale, Woodlawn, Sharonville, and Springdale if a proposed state constitutional amendment lets communities opt in.

The study simulated Cincinnati parcels specifically, not corridor suburbs. But the underlying data comes from the Hamilton County Auditor's office, the same county that includes all four communities, and the proposed amendment would apply statewide.

Researchers modeled what would happen if land were taxed at four times the rate of buildings. Total revenue to local governments would stay the same; only the mix would change.

The lowest-income neighborhoods would see median tax cuts near 17%. Middle-income areas would drop 10% to 11%. Only the highest-income quintile would face a median increase of about 11%. Taxes on multi-family housing would fall more than 16%.

Owners of vacant land and surface parking lots would pay sharply more. Median taxes on vacant parcels would jump 126%, and commercial property taxes would rise 39%.

"When we went parcel by parcel through Cincinnati's assessor data, the pattern was impossible to miss," Curtis Brashaw, co-leader of the Notre Dame student research team, said in a statement accompanying the report. "A downtown lot worth millions can pay less tax per square foot than the apartment building next to it."

One example stood out: a low-income apartment building in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood is taxed at 22 times the rate of the adjacent parking lot.

What's on the table in Columbus

State Sen. Louis Blessing III, a Republican representing Colerain Township adjacent to the corridor communities, is pushing a constitutional amendment that would let Ohio communities opt into a land-value tax. No community would be forced to adopt one.

Blessing said the amendment "doesn't impose anything on anyone" and "simply gives communities the option to stop penalizing the families and businesses who improve their property," according to the Ohio Capital Journal's reporting on July 21.

The amendment would need to pass the Ohio General Assembly before going to voters. No committee hearing date or floor vote has been scheduled.

Corridor councils have not weighed in

None of the four corridor councils — Evendale, Woodlawn, Sharonville, or Springdale — have publicly discussed the Blessing amendment or the Notre Dame study, based on a review of recent meeting minutes and agendas.

Springdale City Council did hear a presentation from Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, about how property taxes are assessed. Miranda explained that changes in property values do not always translate dollar-for-dollar into tax bill changes because levies vary by area.

Broader property tax context

The land-value tax proposal arrives amid a wave of property tax activity in Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine signed five reform bills in late 2025, cutting expected future property tax increases by as much as $3 billion. Hamilton County's next property reappraisal has been delayed from its previously scheduled date to 2030, according to an Ohio Department of Taxation schedule released in January 2026.

The Notre Dame study found Cincinnati holds more than $1.87 billion in vacant or underdeveloped land. Whether similar disparities exist in corridor suburbs would require a separate parcel-level analysis using the same Hamilton County Auditor records.