Property Taxes - Let's Talk About It
The median Montana residential property tax increased 21% in 2024. Some people could even see an increase of 35%!
Governor Greg Gianforte’s administration is responsible for this. How?
- Gianforte and the Republican supermajority legislature lowered the taxes on Montana corporations such as NorthWestern Energy by about $53.9 million.
- To make up the lost revenue, Gianforte and the Republican legislators raised the property taxes on the rest of us by about $52.9 million.
What should be done and who can do it? Read further.
The Ravalli Democratic Committee supports candidates who help regular Montana homeowners
- We believe corporations and the wealthy should pay their fair share in taxes
- We are committed to reversing the policies that gave rich corporations huge tax breaks at the expense of Montana homeowners.
- Montana Democrats strongly oppose a state sales tax to pay for tax breaks for billionaire “trophy home” owners and hugely profitable industries.
Former governor Brian Schweitzer asks:
“How did the largest percentage of Republicans elected in Montana history grow government at the fastest rate in state history — and at the same time raise property taxes on your home?”
Ravalli Democrats support a fair tax policy
Ryan Busse said, “The blame for our higher homeowner property taxes lies squarely with Gianforte and the state legislature.”
Gianforte and the Republican super-majority legislature did not lower homeowners’ tax rates like they should have.
“Before the last legislature even started, the governor’s own department of revenue, pursuant to law, alerted the legislature that the homeowner property tax rate needed to be lowered from 1.35 percent to 0.94 percent so that there would be no tax shock from the high appraisals. Had the governor and the legislature simply heeded that advice and done what had always been done before, home taxes would have remained essentially the same.”
(Dennis Taylor, “The Truth about Your Home’s Property Tax Increase,” The Daily Montanan, November 18, 2023)
Governor Greg Gianforte and the Republican super-majority legislature’s tax policies are making Montana homes unaffordable for all but the wealthy
Governor Gianforte thinks that a two-time property-tax rebate of $675 makes up for the permanent 20-60% increases in our property taxes.
But Montanans had to go through a complicated application process for their property tax rebates. As a result, nearly 66,000 Montanans did not get their rebate.
Adding insult to injury, Gianforte lied in a videotaped interview that he gave “almost $4,000 back to every Montana family in tax rebates.” FALSE!
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7fGVasLeY&t=2356s
Did you know... ?
From KPAX News (4/12/24):
“An MTN analysis of property-tax records showed that one residence owned by Gov. Greg Gianforte in Helena actually saw a decrease in property taxes this year, unlike properties owned by others in the same neighborhood...
MTN spoke with a man in his late 80s, living in... Helena on a fixed income who saw an increase of 62% in property taxes. Meanwhile, the governor’s Helena home saw a decrease of 6.92% in property taxes.”
— https://www.kpax.com/news/montana-news/property-taxes-skyrocket-statewide-but-not-for-montanas-governors-properties
