Latest news with #Ler
Business Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Mapletree Industrial Trust stays defensive, resilient amid global uncertainties
[SINGAPORE] Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) will adopt a more defensive leasing strategy and continue to rebalance its portfolio through divestments amid the current macroeconomic uncertainties, said the manager of the real estate investment trust (Reit) on Friday (May 2). 'One word to describe (the global economic outlook) is 'uncertain',' said Ler Lily, chief executive officer of MIT's manager. She noted that many economies, including Singapore, are adjusting their growth outlooks. The risk of higher operating costs as well as elevated foreign costs will continue to exert pressure, she added. 'This is something we need to ride through and deal with,' Ler said. In the face of the trade tariffs and political tensions, Ler said that the Reit is going to be more defensive in terms of its leasing strategy. She also noted the need to be more nimble and flexible. Operationally, MIT will focus on improving occupancy for both Singapore and US portfolios, which can hopefully enhance cash flow. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The Reit's efforts in rebalancing its portfolios through divestments will continue, she added. This will strengthen its financial flexibility and provide more headroom for it to make meaningful acquisitions that will provide it with sustainable growth. 'I would say we do have our challenges ahead of us, but our portfolio is diversified, and we do have (a) relatively strong balance sheet, so we do hope that this can feed us through this uncertain time,' said Ler. For the full year ended March, MIT's distribution per unit (DPU) for FY2024 was up 1 per cent at S$0.1357, from S$0.1343 the previous year. The manager attributed the DPU growth to new contributions from the Reit's Osaka data centre and from its newly acquired mixed-use facility in Tokyo which was completed last September. Gross revenue rose by 2.1 per cent to S$722.8 million, and net property income (NPI) went up by 2 per cent to S$531.5 million. Besides contributions from the facilities in Osaka and Tokyo, increases in NPI were also attributed to new leases and renewals across various sectors in Singapore property clusters. However, this was partially offset by higher property maintenance and marketing costs, and non-renewal of leases in its North American portfolio. The divestment of the Tanglin Halt cluster also incurred a loss in income, which offset the NPI growth. Borrowing costs slipped 1.4 per cent to S$105.1 million for the financial year, from S$106.6 million the year before. This was due to repayment of loans with proceeds from the Tanglin Halt divestment, as well as lower interest on unhedged floating rate loans. For its operational front, the manager reported a positive rental revision across all property segments in Singapore with a weighted average rental reversion rate of about 8.1 per cent in the final quarter of FY2024. However, MIT has been one of the worst performers on the Straits Times Index so far this year. Year to date, it has generated total returns of negative 7.6 per cent, compared with the Straits Times Index, which has returned a total of 3.3 per cent. This share price weakness, however, is 'unjustified', said DBS Group Research analysts Derek Tan and Dale Lai in a Friday report. The research house is maintaining its 'buy' call on the Reit with a target price of S$2.60. MIT's DPU of S$0.1357 is also in line with their estimates. The way the analysts see it, MIT has actively managed the portfolio, and has successfully renewed or back-filled about 70 per cent of lease expiries over the past two years. This, they said, also demonstrates the continued relevance of MIT's assets to enterprise needs. Furthermore, they are positive that the new contributions from Japan, select US assets and leasing momentum at Hi-Tech Park @ Kallang could provide upside surprises to their estimates. These could help offset the expected churn in occupancy rates in the US, which could happen due to non-renewal of selected leases in the upcoming quarters. Potential divestments to optimise and rebalance the portfolio could also help to manage overall risk, and redeploy the proceeds to other uses. Recently, the divestment of a data centre in Georgia, US, for US$11.8 million was announced. When the sale is completed in the second quarter of FY2025, the Reit can redeploy capital into other growth opportunities. While MIT's share price has declined 9 per cent year to date, DBS still sees investors gravitating towards the Reit – especially with the uncertain economic conditions. 'Its diversified portfolio has demonstrated resilience through past downturns,' the analysts said.
Associated Press
25-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Major income tax cut heads to Montana governor's desk
A major income tax cut that would reduce state revenues by an estimated $267 million a year by 2028 cleared the Montana Legislature on Tuesday, passing a final vote in the Senate to head toward the desk of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. House Bill 337, sponsored by Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage, scales back the state's top-bracket tax rate over the next two years while extending a lower-bracket rate to higher incomes. It passed on near-party line votes, with support from all Republicans and opposition from nearly all Democrats. Advocating for the bill during a hearing before the Senate Taxation Committee on April 9, Ler argued the legislation would produce an income tax cut across the income spectrum. 'That means giving the populace more money and not having more money up here in state government,' Ler said. Opponents had worried that continuing to scale back income taxes, the state's primary revenue source, will eventually make it harder to cover the cost of public services. They also argued the lion's share of the savings will go to high-income earners. 'It doesn't target the Montanans who actually need it, who are the lower- and middle- income Montanans,' Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, argued as the bill was debated on the Senate floor April 18. According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center, a Helena think tank that typically advocates for progressive tax policy and opposed HB 337, about two-thirds of the bill's savings will go to the wealthiest 20% of taxpayers. Higher-income taxpayers also pay a greater share of state taxes under current law. According to figures from the Montana Department of Revenue, the highest earning 20% of individual taxpayers reported 64% of the state's taxable income and paid 70% of state income taxes collected in 2023. Gianforte has made repeated pushes to reduce the state's top-bracket income tax rate a centerpiece of his policy agenda since he took office in 2021 and has signed multiple rounds of Republican-backed income tax cuts that have reduced that rate from 6.9% to the current 5.9%. He routinely argues that lower income taxes will bolster Montana's economy by making it a more competitive destination for entrepreneurs. The Ler bill implements a slightly smaller cut than the one initially included in Gianforte's pre-session budget proposal, which would have implemented a phased cut to the top-bracket tax rate, ultimately reducing it 4.9%. A fiscal analysis concluded that proposal would have reduced state revenues by about $304 million a year by 2028. Instead, Ler's proposal would drop the top-bracket rate to 5.65% in 2026 and then 5.4% in 2027, also phasing in the cut. Unlike the Gianforte proposal, it would also apply a current lower-bracket 4.7% rate to higher incomes, raising the threshold where that lower marginal rate is replaced with the top-bracket one from $21,000 to $47,500 for individual taxpayers. That threshold is doubled for married couples who file joint tax returns. For an individual filer earning $50,000 a year and claiming a $15,000 standard deduction — therefore with $35,000 in taxable income — the Ler bill would result in $167 in annual savings once fully implemented, according to MTFP calculations. For an individual filer earning $200,000 a year and taking that same standard deduction, the annual savings would be $1,004. The Gianforte proposal, in comparison, would have saved that $50,000 taxpayer slightly less, $139 a year and that $200,000 taxpayer substantially more, $1,639 a year. The Ler bill also includes a portion of the governor's proposal that would expand a state Earned Income Tax Credit available to lower-income working families starting next year, doubling it from 10% to 20% of an analogous credit available in the federal tax system. That increase would represent a relatively small share of the bill's overall price tag, about $38 million a year. Other major income tax bills proposed this session have stalled. Senate Bill 323, brought by Sen. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, to implement the governor's proposal, stalled in its initial Senate committee earlier this month. Another major income tax cut bill, Billings Republican Sen. Mike Yakawich'sSenate Bill 203, passed the Senate but was tabled by the House Taxation Committee on April 16. Income taxes are the major source of funding for Montana's state government. Montana property tax collections, in comparison, almost exclusively flow to fund local services. ___ This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major property tax proposals advance, legislators raise concerns with both
Photo illustration by Getty Images. With a maximum 11 days left in the session, legislators advanced two major but conflicting property tax relief proposals on Tuesday, one in the House and one in the Senate. Within minutes of each other, House Bill 231 passed in the Senate, and Senate Bill 542 passed in the House. Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage, said many options have been flying around the Capitol, and SB 542 melds together ideas from other bills into one that isn't perfect, but needs to pass. 'We want to get something across for our constituents, and we want to be able to say that this legislature at least took a stab at lowering property taxes,' Ler said.'Is this bill going to do everything … that everybody in this room wants it to do? No. Does it do everything I wanted to do? No. But what it does do is it actually makes a difference in property taxes.' SB 542 includes a tiered rate drop and a one-time rebate among other provisions. Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, said she had concerns about the bill, but it's 'past time' to do something for residential property taxpayers, more than just a rebate. 'People will notice this,' Sullivan said. 'Our constituents will open their bill, and they will say thank you. You guys dropped some rates for us.' HB 231 is a 43-page property tax bill so complicated Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvary quipped on Tuesday that 'nobody really knows what this bill is doing besides three, or four, or five us in the room.' The bill has gone through months of amendments, including two more added on the floor Tuesday that addressed an issue with taxation limits in the Billings and Sunburst city charters that has complicated property tax discussions. House Bill 231 looks to shift property taxes onto second homes, but has met resistance from some legislators who live in districts with large numbers of second homes and short-term rentals. Both bills still need a final vote in their respective chambers, and as both have been heavily amended, they will need to get another approval from their original chamber to pass. How legislators choose to push either or both forward to the governor's desk will unfold in the last days of the session. Reducing property taxes for residential payers has been a priority for the 2025 Montana Legislature because bills have increased significantly — more than 20% on average in the state in the most recent 2023 reappraisal, and are expected to increase again. Ler said SB 542 takes pieces from other bills, including a major proposal from Democrats, House Bill 155, and marries them into 'what the media now calls 'the Frankenstein property tax bill.'' It also takes pieces from HB 231, a proposal supported by the Governor's Office,. Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, said residential property tax bills will decrease 14.5% statewide in the first year, and those payers also will receive a one-time $400 rebate. Also in the first year, Jones said commercial properties will rise 4.6%, centrally assessed properties, such as railroads, will increase 10.7%, and agriculture will be up 4.3%. In year two, he said, bills for residential homes would be down 25.6% on average. After killing all but one amendment in a debate that ran nearly an hour-and-a-half, the House approved the bill on a bipartisan 80-20 vote. The only amendment that passed was proposed by Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings. Legislators have said the bill could cost the city of Billings millions because of an apparent conflict with its charter, which caps mills levied without voter approval. Zolnikov said if the city of Billings gets in legal trouble as a result, the amendment requires the state to pay any legal fees. 'I don't think anybody's intent is to, you know, bankrupt the city of Billings,' Zolnikov said. Ler said the bill already protected the city of Billings and its unique situation, but the amendment was friendly. It passed with 99 votes and none opposed. After the House passed the bill, though, a fierce debate followed over whether to send it to the Appropriations Committee, which reviews significant spending proposals. Some legislators argued the House shouldn't take shortcuts, especially because lawmakers didn't have a current analysis of the bill's cost. Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, said legislators need to work quickly, but they need to complete all their work too. 'This is the process. We shouldn't skirt the process just because we waited until day 79 to pass property taxes,' Zephyr said. Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, said it was a weighty piece of legislation, and he wanted to know who the losers were before he voted. He said he didn't believe all of them had been identified, nor did he want to vote on legislation without a current fiscal analysis. 'I am not wild about voting on this without a new fiscal note,' said Mercer, who voted no on the bill. However, Jones, chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said the committee already had seen the bills that are part of SB 542, so the committee had a good handle on cost, and time was of the essence. 'I want to make sure that a tax bill crosses into the Senate before the Senate goes home,' Jones said. The House agreed to bypass the review in the Appropriations Committee. HB 231 'picks winners and losers,' Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said on the floor Tuesday. HB 231 includes a property tax rebate on taxes paid in 2024. Someone who applied for the rebate also automatically qualifies for the homestead exemption built into the bill, a major piece of policy the governor has pushed. The bill passed on a narrow 26-24 vote, with a single Democrat in opposition and nine Republicans in support. Glimm's comments echoed the sentiments expressed by Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, and Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell. Hertz, Glimm and Reiger have all been in support of Senate Bill 90, which directs tourist dollars toward property tax rebates as part of their property tax solution. But they didn't support HB 231. In the final comment before bill carrier Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, closed on HB 231, Regier explained his reason — first to the legislature, and then to the people of Montana. He noted to the legislature it was spending general fund money, which has been a common discussion point in the chamber. And then, saying he was speaking directly to the public, he said tax rates, especially for agricultural communities, were going to go up if House Bill 231 passed. For second home properties and short term rentals, that increase could be over $300 million, according to a fiscal note for HB 231. 'There are a lot of options that actually do provide property tax relief,' Regier said. 'This is not it. So please, watch this vote, and hold those that vote for and against accountable.' Fern, though, said the bill would provide middle-class property tax relief, saying that 'for most folks, it will be a substantial tax decrease.' He also pushed back on the idea second homes were a major issue, saying that when he knocked on doors during his campaign, 'I'm going to guess 98% of them didn't have second homes.' However, Fern added HB 542 may end up being the vehicle for property tax relief and pointed to the urgency. 'Over the last couple sessions, we, the legislature and the Governor's Office failed to deliver property taxes, and so it compounded,' Fern said on the floor. 'Then we had a very volatile situation where appraisals and values went high. The system was not built to mitigate it in an easy way.'
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislative committee supports yet another version of partisan judicial elections
The door to the old Supreme Court Chamber at the Montana Capitol. (Micah Drew/Daily Montanan) Bruce Spencer, a lobbyist representing the State Bar of Montana, did not need to elaborate on his organization's position on a bill before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday — he's said it all before. 'I'm trying to think of something new to say,' Spencer told the committee. 'I've got to be honest, I don't have much.' Spencer was testifying for at least the seventh time against a bill that seeks to make Montana's judiciary more aligned with partisan politics. Another bill in the same vein was introduced earlier this week. Friday's hearing was on House Bill 838, introduced by Speaker of the House Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage. The legislation would allow candidates for the Montana Supreme Court to run under a party affiliation, or under a nonpartisan label. The bill would also create a new primary system for Supreme Court candidates, putting all candidates on a primary ballot regardless of which party primary a voter participates in. The top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, would proceed to the general election. 'It's my personal opinion that (judges) have already chosen a party to run under,' Ler said. 'We see that time and time again with the way that the Montana Supreme Court operates, whether it's them meddling in our rules, them pre-determining the outcome on the bench of different legislation we have, or the decisions that they make, which seem to be completely against the will of the majority of Montana voters.' The bill had no proponents, but drew a dozen opponents during the hearing. Many of the arguments put forth have been hashed out repeatedly in both the House and Senate so far this legislative session. Three other pieces of legislation have sought to specifically make judicial races partisan. House Bill 295 failed to clear a House vote before transmittal, as did HB 751, which would have required Supreme Court candidates to declare a party affiliation. Senate Bill 42, however, has had more momentum, sailing through the Senate — albeit on partisan lines. SB 42 requires judges at any level to attach a partisan affiliation to their candidacy. Those bills' proponents called them 'voter education' bills, seeking to add transparency to elections that are conducted with seemingly less knowledge of candidates than other partisan races. Ler said since he believes the judiciary is already partisan, voters should be made aware of that before they reach the bench. But opponents pushed back against that characterization, saying judges make rulings based on the Constitution and the law, and should not be beholden to a party platform. 'Judges don't make decisions on the basis of a constituency, and that's what political parties are. They're setting out values for a constituency,' said Al Smith with the Montana Trial Lawyers Association. 'That's not what judges do. They look at the Constitution, the law, the facts of the case. They should be free from political pressure.' Speaking specifically to the characterization of partisan elections as voter education bills, Anne Sherwood, with Friends of the Third Branch, an educational organization focused on the state's judiciary, said the claim voters can't find information about candidates is disingenuous. 'This bill is also not going to increase voter education. It strains credulity that in today's digital age, somebody cannot find information on these candidates,' Sherwood said. '… We have the internet. Now we have Twitter. Now we have Facebook. Now we have independent campaign spending.' Spencer added the State Bar holds forums for Supreme Court candidates every election cycle — another way voters could learn about the candidates. The House Judiciary Committee passed HB 838 out of committee on a 12-8 party-line vote. Two additional bills related to a partisan judiciary met opposing fates in the Legislature. House Bill 39, which allows political parties to spend money on judicial races, was signed by the governor earlier this month, while House BIll 169, which would have let judges and judicial candidates take part in partisan activities, died in the Senate.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House and Senate make opposite decisions on partisan judiciary bills
The door to the old Supreme Court Chamber at the Montana Capitol. (Micah Drew/Daily Montanan) Leaders in Montana's Republican Party have made it clear that when the Legislature disbands at the end of the 69th session, the plan is to assign the judicial branch in the state shades of red and blue. Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage, and Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, outlined the party's plans for judicial reform early on in the session while Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte told lawmakers during his State of the State address that he wanted a bill on his desk that 'empowers Montana voters to know a judicial candidate's political party.' But among the 150 lawmakers holding forth in the Capitol, the appetite for injecting additional politics into the court system appears to be mixed. Last week, the Senate and House each debated versions of legislation that would attach political party affiliation to justices, splitting their votes. Senate Bill 42, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, passed the Senate this week 28-22 with four Republicans voting with all Democrats against the bill. Under the proposed legislation, all judicial candidates for the Montana Supreme Court, a district court and all justices of the peace would be required to declare a political party and be nominated on a partisan ballot. The bill was strongly endorsed by Gianforte at a press conference on Thursday when he applauded Senate GOP leaders for working with him to move the legislation through the upper chamber. But in the lower chamber, House Bill 295 failed to pass the floor in a 47-53 vote, where 11 Republicans opposed the bill. Similar to SB 42, the House version, carried by Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, would have allowed judicial candidates to indicate their party affiliation, and would list 'undisclosed' next to any candidate who does not declare a party. During floor debate, Speaker Ler said the bill was necessary because he believes the courts, especially the Supreme Court, has been overreaching its constitutional jurisdiction, and the bill would 'align that court with the values that Montanans hold.' 'I believe that our courts are already partisan, especially our Supreme Court in this state,' Ler said. 'And they have no bones about hiding.' Many supporters of the partisan judicial bills in both chambers said it was an issue of transparency — that the top questions voters ask during the election season is for information on judicial candidates. 'Right now, there is not much information you can get from a judge even if you go listen and talk to them. Their code of conduct, their judicial canons, they can't speak about how they might rule on a case,' said Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson during Wednesday's debate on SB 42. But knowing partisan affiliation, Hertz said, lets voters understand more about the principles of the candidate, letting them make better informed decisions. Opponents to partisan judicial elections often invoked a message from Montanan's newly-elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Cory Swanson, who last month warned lawmakers against going down that road. 'The judiciary should remain nonpartisan despite the almost irresistible pull of partisan spending and messaging in these highly contested campaigns,' Swanson, a former Republican county attorney, said during a joint session. 'The judiciary does not want this,' Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman said. 'They want each of our branches to be healthy and independent and trust each other to make good decisions.' Sen. Laura Smith, D-Helena, repeated an opponents' talking point that the broader electorate does not support the idea, citing several survey results. One 2023 survey conducted by Montana State University, Montana Public Interest Research Group and the League of Women Voters showed that 71% of Montanans did not believe Supreme Court justices should run with a political label, and 89% said justices should not consider politics in their decisions. More than half of respondents to that survey reported voting for President Donald Trump in 2020, while 34% reported voting for former President Joe Biden. 'Looking at the data on this, the majority of Montanans don't want their courts to be political,' Smith said. 'One of the primary things that people don't want in their lives, any more than is necessary, is politics.' Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, equated the judicial branch to baseball umpires. 'If the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, I don't want to have to wonder whether it's a Yankees umpire or a Red Sox umpire,' Flowers said. 'I want to know that they're calling balls and strikes straight.' Sen. Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls, said she'd put a lot of thought into the issue recently and had recently changed her mind on the bill. 'Initially I said that I prefer to keep justice blind,' McKamey told her colleagues. 'I have seen and witnessed that the judges sitting on the Supreme Court bench, even though they have their personal opinions, are setting aside their personal opinions and looking at the Constitution and making those decisions. And I trust that. So I will be yes.' The Senate bill passed and will be taken up by the House. The House bill died in the floor vote, but another attempt to make Supreme Court elections partisan, House Bill 751, will have a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. A related bill allowing political parties to donate to candidates, HB 39, passed both chambers and has been transmitted to the governor's desk. Another bill to change the way Supreme Court judges are selected would put the questions to voters about changing from an elected system to one where judges are nominated through a bipartisan committee and then appointed by the governor. No action has been taken on House Bill 506 since its committee hearing last week.
