Time to fix Montana's inequitable property tax system

Now that the primary dust has settled it is time to define the no. 1 legislative issue for the upcoming Montana Legislature.

Our state legislature is controlled by the Republican Party. It holds the governorship and majorities in both the state Senate and House of Representatives – there is no reason we should not expect them to reform our inequitable property tax system.

A balanced tax system is a three-legged stool – equal parts of sales, income and property taxes – that broadens the tax base and makes everyone contribute equally. Ours is not balanced.

We have no general sales tax so we depend heavily on income and property taxes to fund our state and local governments, and since many corporate property taxpayers have either shut down or left the state our property tax system depends yet more heavily on residential property taxpayers.

There are a couple of easy solutions to remedy this inequity: enact a general sales tax accompanied with appropriate property tax relief, or – and here's the big one – amend our property tax system to make it more fair.

The Montana Legislature could move to an acquisition-value-based system. Under that system we would pay property taxes based on the original value we paid for our properties. That value would be adjusted annually with a cost-of-living (COLA) calculation, but basically we would pay residential properties on our original cost. California has used this system successfully for years.

Readers would do well to ask the candidates who survived the primary how they would address this property tax inequality in the upcoming general election season. Make them answer, but more importantly, make them start thinking about solutions for the 2027 Montana Legislature to consider.

– Don Larson, Finley Point