Members of the Ohio House of Representatives have come out and said it. They don’t believe you are smart enough to read and understand a ballot and make the best choice for your communities.

Monday, the House passed legislation that would eliminate replacement tax levies. According to a report by the Dayton Daily News, the measure could eliminate the ability of local tax jurisdictions to put replacement levies on ballots. Co-sponsors Reps. Thomas Hall, R-Dist. 46, and Adam Mathews, R-Dist. 56, believe you, the voter, are not capable of understanding the difference between “renewal” and “replacement,” and that therefore communities should not have the right to give voters a chance to make decisions on those property tax levies.

Bath Township Fire Chief Joseph Kitchen, president of the Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association, told members of the House the legislation was concerning.

“Eliminating replacement levies would remove a vital option for communities like mine and leave departments with few alternatives — either pursuing higher millage rates, which are increasingly difficult to pass, or facing dangerous funding shortfalls,” he said in the Daily News.

Lawmakers ignored him.

As it stands, if voters do not want to support a replacement levy, they have the ability to vote against it. Ohio lawmakers don’t trust voters to do what is best for themselves and their communities, and want to remove their ability to cast that vote.

State senators and, if it comes to that, Gov. Mike DeWine must have more faith than that in Ohio voters.