No New Taxes is a Lie

The legislative leadership, especially Austin Knudsen, are bragging again that they imposed no new taxes on hard-working Montanans. That is a big lie. Please check your last year’s school tax on your property tax bill and compare it to this year’s. We send our local property taxes to Helena and get monies back through entitlements. The legislature simply did not fund the block grants to schools and passed on a tax increase to the counties. Mine went up 30 percent in one year in Daniels County and a similar amount in Valley County. And the legislature just eliminated another 13 million in education grants to the local school districts in the special session. Local school boards, county and state officials are stuck trying to work through this.

Our small NE county of Daniels is owned 23 percent by the state, more than any county in Montana for its size. The state used to pay an in-lieu payment to nine Montana counties with over six percent state land to help make up the difference in lost local taxes. This has been nearly eliminated with no correlation between state land ownership and taxes, with the locals making up the difference in taxes. This is totally unfair and wrong. It seems many politicians are more concerned about access on these lands than paying their fair share for owning them. Either pay up or sell them to get them on the tax roles.

Speaker Knudsen and Senator Mike Lang are our local reps and often seem more concerned about holding the party line than representing their constituents. Knudsen’s far right hardline ideology is not good for his constituents or Montana. Their plan for public funding of private/charter children, often called School Choice, will mean additional taxes and government when most rural schools are fighting for survival now. Knudsen had no problem passing on $750,000 to the counties for the last congressional special election in Montana by not allowing a bill for mail-in ballots to come to the floor for a vote. Uncompromising hardline position?

So try not to choke when you compare last year’s tax bill to this year’s, with more increases coming. And wait till Congress doesn’t allow you to deduct local and state taxes, especially for our main industry-agriculture. Another tax increase coming?

-Steve Carney

Scobey/Fort Peck