Dramatically rising property taxes impact home owners and renters alike, since owners pass on increases to tenants. The recent increases in valuation were totally foreseeable and that’s why I introduced legislation to protect homeowners by assuring that their taxes could only rise by a limited amount. My bill was defeated on a party line vote.

Montanans pay an income tax rate of 6.75%, regardless of whether they earn $30,000 or $3,000,000. It was not always like this. The wealthiest Montanans used to pay a marginal tax rate as high as 11%. In 2003, Governor Martz (R), slashed those rates for the wealthy, also substantially reducing the rates they pay on capital gains. Sadly, the 2021and 2023 legislatures, rather than reversing these unjust tax cuts for the wealthy, extended them by twice lowering the top rate to give thousands of dollars to the wealthy, while leaving everyone else with pocket change. They also further cut capital gains tax to benefit the investor class and substantially increased the business tax credit, which benefited businesses with large and expensive equipment. Large tax credits were also doled out to those who donate to private schools. I introduced legislation to give a tax credit to families with children, but it was defeated on a party line vote.

Also, over 12 million tourists visit our stunningly gorgeous State annually, spending some $3.5 billion here. Much of that spending can be identified and taxed so that they pay their fair share towards keeping our roads in good shape and our parks pristine. We need to give power to local governments to identify revenue sources in their localities and to express the will of their residents.

Finally, by transitioning to clean energy, Montana can become a great exporter of that energy and tax it so that the taxes are borne by importers of that energy in neighboring states.