Taxes and property

Evidence timeline

What the record shows.

1. Occurred Apr 20, 2022

   official action

   Derek Merrin: Matches stated record claim

   He sponsored House Bill 126 on how local governments contest property values, signed in April 2022, after two earlier tries of his did not become law.

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   His campaign says he reformed Ohio's Board of Revision law in 2022, limiting the power of local governments to challenge property values in order to raise property taxes. He is recorded as the sponsor of H.B. 126 of the 134th General Assembly, "Regards process for local governments to contest property value", signed April 20, 2022 and effective July 21, 2022. He had carried the subject twice before without success: H.B. 343 of the 132nd and H.B. 75 of the 133rd, the latter passing the Senate but not completing. Limit: The card tests sponsorship and enactment, not the law's effect on anyone's tax bill, and takes no position on whether the change was worth making.

2. Occurred Jan 9, 2021

   official action

   Derek Merrin: Matches stated record claim

   He sponsored House Bill 150 to reduce taxes on new banks and mortgage lenders, signed in January 2021; the highest-in-the-nation claim isn't checked here.

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   His campaign says he reduced mortgage lenders' tax burden in 2021, calling it the highest in the nation at the time. He is recorded as the sponsor of H.B. 150 of the 133rd General Assembly, "Reduce taxes on new banks and mortgage lenders", signed January 9, 2021 and effective April 12, 2021. Limit: The bill's enactment is on the record. The description of Ohio's burden as the highest in the nation is the campaign's and is not evaluated here.

3. Occurred Jul 18, 2019

   official action

   Derek Merrin: Matches stated direction

   His own bill passed the House and stalled in the Senate, but the exemption became law in the 2019 state budget; the record doesn't link it to his bill. The $45 million isn't checked here.

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   His campaign says he repealed the sales tax on prescription eyewear, saving taxpayers forty-five million dollars a year. His own bill did not do it. H.B. 116 of the 132nd General Assembly, "Exempt optical aids from sales tax", passed the House, was referred to a Senate committee and stopped there, with no signature and no effective date. The exemption exists all the same: Revised Code section 5739.02 was amended by House Bill 166 of the 133rd General Assembly, the state budget, effective July 18, 2019. Limit: He introduced and passed through one chamber a bill for this exemption, and the exemption became law. Whether the budget's provision came from his bill is not something the record settles, and the forty-five million dollar figure is the campaign's, not the state's.

4. Occurred Jul 3, 2019

   official action

   Derek Merrin: Matches stated record claim

   Pump notices showing state and federal fuel taxes became law in the 2019 transportation budget, as he says, though his own two bills on it did not pass.

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   His campaign says his Fuel Tax Transparency Act, requiring stickers on fuel pumps that display state and federal fuel taxes, became law in 2019 through the Transportation Budget. Revised Code section 5735.50 requires notices on retail service station pumps showing state and federal fuel tax rates. It took effect July 3, 2019, and the Code names House Bill 62 of the 133rd General Assembly, the transportation budget, as its legislation. He had carried the subject as his own bill twice without passage: H.B. 70 of the 132nd and H.B. 110 of the 133rd. Limit: The claim names the vehicle and the Code agrees. What the Code cannot show is who wrote the budget's provision, so the record confirms the outcome and the route rather than the authorship.

5. Occurred Nov 6, 2017

   official action

   Derek Merrin: Matches stated direction

   His House Bill 118 became law in 2017 and bars dismissing a property value complaint for failing to name the owner, a narrower change than the whole process.

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   His campaign says he simplified the process for homeowners to challenge their property value. He is recorded as the sponsor of H.B. 118 of the 132nd General Assembly, signed November 6, 2017 and effective February 5, 2018. The General Assembly's short title is "Prohibit dismissing tax complaint if fails to identify owner": it bars dismissal of a complaint on one specific ground rather than revising the process as a whole. Limit: The law is narrower than "simplified the process" suggests, and it is his. The card compares the wording to the bill's own title and does not judge how much difference the change made.