Latest news with #MontanaDepartmentofRevenue
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bigfork Fire Department asking for up to $15 million for new station and upgrades
Jun. 7—Bigfork Fire Department is putting a 20-year bond for up to $15 million before voters this fall for a new fire station and upgrades to its current facilities, according to the department's Public Information Officer Al Benitez. The Bigfork Fire Department Board of Trustees voted last week to put the bond and a mill levy before voters in a Sept. 9 special election to address infrastructure and staffing deficiencies. The proposed permanent mill levy would raise $1.2 million the first year, which will go toward staff, operations, training and equipment, Benitez said. Calculating the annual tax increases for these proposals has been more difficult than in recent years because of revisions to property tax laws by the Montana Legislature, Benitez said. Multiple bills targeting property tax relief were signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte this spring, including SB 542, which taxes second homes and short-term rentals at a higher rate. Homestead qualified residences, which are primary homes, will be taxed at a marginal rate due to these changes. If a primary home is valued at $600,000, the first $50,000 of that will be taxed at 0.76%, the value between $50,001 and $500,000 will be taxed at 0.95% and the remaining value will be taxed at 1.15%. In addition to these changes, there will be a $400 rebate the first year New tax assessment values are scheduled to be released by the Montana Department of Revenue in early August, but the ballots will have been certified before that announcement and therefore won't include concrete figures on annual tax increases, according to a document outlining tax increase estimates from the fire department. In working with Flathead County, the fire department's bond counsel and bond underwriter, Benitez said they calculated conservative estimates. The estimates only look at homes that qualify as homestead-qualified properties. If the proposed mill levy passes, the owner of a home with a market value of $300,000 can expect an annual tax increase of $74.73. Owners of homes valued at $600,000 can expect an annual tax increase of $157.47, according to Benitez. If the bond measure passes, the owner of a home valued at $300,000 will see an annual tax increase of $75.61. Owners of homes valued at $600,000 will see an annual tax increase of $159.31. The mill levy will appear on the 2025-2026 tax rolls, and the bond will appear on the 2026-2027 tax rolls, if the measures pass. Benitez said the department will continue to give updates about the proposals as they get more information. "It's a conservative estimate. We believe the number probably will be a little bit lower, but to give an idea ... There are 17 different classes of property in Montana, each one is going to have their own tax calculation," Benitez said. In a release detailing the proposals, Bigfork Fire Department officials said they are experiencing increased calls for service while grappling with aging buildings, outdated equipment and limited staff. If approved, the bond will fund a new fire district headquarters and Station 31 on 8.65 acres owned by the fire district, designed to serve Bigfork for the next 50 years. It will also pay for repairs and upgrades to Station 32 and Station 33 facilities. The mill levy would support the hiring of additional firefighters (increasing the on-duty staff from three to up to five per shift), improve firefighter pay to attract and retain skilled personnel, purchasing of additional safety gear and equipment for new and current firefighters, as well as provide enhanced training, including specialized certifications. The mill levy would also ensure continuing round-the-clock availability for their EMS services. The Bigfork Fire Department's Board of Trustees bought the 8.65 acres in June of 2020 from Carol and Ronald Pierce for the board approved the purchase of the Pierce property at approximately $29,000 per acre, with interest estimated at around 2%. Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4440 or by emailing tinman@
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Agricultural exemption, review bill fails on House floor
An irrigation system is shown near Sheridan, MT, in 2019. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung) A bill seeking to change automatic classification of large tracts of land as agricultural land failed in the House on Thursday afternoon. House Bill 27, brought by Rep. Sherry Essmann, R-Billings, would have introduced an application process for agricultural classification and a review process for properties already considered agricultural land. The bill targeted properties that claim an agricultural exemption, but aren't actually being used for raising livestock or crops. Currently, agricultural exemptions are automatically granted for properties more than 160 acres. Properties that are less than 160 acres have to apply to the Montana Department of Revenue to receive an agricultural designation. Properties not qualifying for the agricultural exemption would instead be switched to Tax Class Four, which is residential. The bill would have introduced 'sustenance use land' and 'nonproductive forest land' as new tax classifications. The Department of Revenue supported the bill after an off-session working group tried to address the issue following a similar bill that failed during the 2023 session. 'What became crystal clear to the working group was that the current statute of ag classification eligibility is providing preferential classification value to properties that are not engaged in quantified ag use,' Essmann said on the floor Thursday. 'Montana's land is a right, but our ranchers, our farmers and our communities depend on it. But for too long, we've seen speculators buying thousands of acres and take them out of production and turn them into their personal playgrounds.' Properties 640 acres and less would need to show they produced $1,500 or more in income from agricultural use to qualify for the agriculture exemption. Tracts of land receiving the exemption would have to show an additional $6 for every acre over 640. So, if a property was 650 acres, it would have needed to show an income of $1,560. The bill received opposition on the floor and debate only ended with a cloture vote, a procedural move to stop debate. Opponents said it would hurt small farmers, as well as operators of commercial operations like corn mazes, pumpkin patches and dude ranches. All three of those uses, along with agrotourism operations, were not eligible to be considered agricultural land under the bill. Rep. Caleb Hinkle, R-Belgrade, spoke against the bill on the floor Thursday, saying it 'threatens to undermine the very backbone of our state.' He said it would 'punish' small property owners and 'strangle' family farms. 'This bill, if passed, claims to target the fraud agriculture,' Rep. Jed Hinkle, R-Belgrade said on the floor, 'But instead captures good, well-meaning Montanans whose dream was to own some property, raise their livestock, or plant their gardens, orchards and actually be able to afford living and owning the land.' The bill failed 60-40 on the floor.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers debate Republican income tax relief proposals
The Montana Department of Revenue located at 340 Last Chance Gulch in Helena, Montana (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan). The middle class is often a forgotten segment of the population, says Sen. Mike Yakawich, a Billings Republican. Instead, policy often focuses on the very affluent or 'those who unfortunately don't have a lot.' 'But that middle class, we have to let them know we love them, we care about them, we want to help them,' Yakawich said in a conversation with Senate President Matt Regier on the Montana Majority Report podcast on Tuesday. Regier, a Kalispell Republican, requested Senate Bill 203, which Yakawich is carrying through the chamber, to adjust income tax brackets in the state in a way that prioritizes middle-class Montanans. The bill is just one aimed at revising income tax rates working its way through the Legislature. Two measures, brought by GOP leadership, focus on giving cuts to middle-class earners, while Montana's Republican governor continues to push for a larger, top-down approach. Yakawich told the Senate Taxation Committee earlier this month that he characterizes his bill as the 'millennial bill,' aimed at young professionals in the state. He has five kids of his own, four of whom are married, with substantial, six-figure household incomes. 'When I was their age, that was a lot of money,' Yakawich said. 'Now, that's not a lot of money for someone who has children, who starts looking at (buying) a home.' Montana currently has two income tax brackets — one at 4.7% and one at 5.9% — which split at roughly $21,000 for an individual filer. The state used to have a six-bracket marginal tax system until the Legislature condensed it during the 2021 session. SB 203 would expand the lower bracket to comprise individuals making up to $100,000 — covering up to the 90th percentile of earners, according to Yakawich. For married couples filing jointly the bracket delineation would be at $200,000. The tax cut would result in between $56 and $616 in savings for individuals in the 60th through 90th percentiles, according to data from the Legislative Fiscal Division. 'That can cover a lot of diapers, it can cover a lot of costs for families who are growing and struggling and trying to make it,' Yakawich said. 'It's important for us here in Montana to focus on those young couples, especially, who are really striving to make ends meet and be successful, have a good job and pay their taxes.' According to the bill's fiscal note, the state would receive roughly $250 million less from taxpayers annually by 2029. 'The intent is to have the best bill for the state of Montana, for our citizens,' Yakawich told the committee, acknowledging the other efforts to revise income tax rules. 'This is one effort.' Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has a different approach to income taxes — fewer and lower is good, but none might be best. For months since Montanans reelected Gianforte to a second term, the governor has outlined his goal to enact the largest income tax cut in Montana history, building on top of the work the state had done during his first four years in office. The governor had previously touted ushering in a combined $1 billion in income and property tax relief after the last legislative session. 'We've lowered the rate that most Montana taxpayers pay from 6.9% to 5.9% but there's more we can and should do,' Gianforte said at a press conference last week. 'We must continue reducing the tax that most Montanans pay, and we must continue to flatten our taxes.' The governor's tax plan, which is still in draft form, would lower the top income tax rate by half a percentage point each of the next two years. By the next biennium, the state's two brackets would be 4.7% and 4.9% — one step away from a flat tax rate that all Montanans pay. That's the governor's ultimate goal, which he said would give Montanans 'greater certainty into the future.' 'Let's be honest about what the income tax is — it's a tax on work. It's a tax on the fruits of their labor. We shouldn't tax work more than we have to,' Gianforte said at a Jan. 28 press conference. 'By reducing the income tax, hard working Montanans will keep more of what they work so hard to earn.' At that press conference, which was conducted with Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, Gianforte compared Montana to nearby states in the Mountain region. Of those states, Wyoming, Nevada and South Dakota have no income tax, while Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Arizona all have a single, flat income tax rate. And out of the latter states, the tax rate ranges from 2.5% to Idaho's 5.8%. However, Montana is one of four states in the country without a sales tax — every bordering state has one, with North Dakota's the highest at more than 7%. 'Montanans are losing out,' Gianforte said. 'They're losing out on keeping more of what they earn, and they're losing out on the opportunities that come from businesses of all sizes.' Norquist, who for decades has championed a pledge among national Republicans to oppose any new taxes, said that moving toward a flat-tax rate shows potential investors and business owners that Montana has a policy of cutting taxes, and they are less likely to be 'badly surprised this year, next year, or 10 years from now,' with a rate hike. He also touted the states that had done away with income tax altogether, and the growing number of lawmakers who supported heading in that direction. Gianforte's plan would be the 'the largest income tax cut in state history,' with $850 million in permanent tax relief, according to the governor's office. Legislative fiscal analysts estimate the tax policy changes would reduce general fund revenue collections by $398 million in the 2027 biennium. But the Governor said he isn't worried about future impacts to the state's budget, saying that under his administration, the state has not grown spending while GDP has increased — leading to both structural and one-time surpluses. 'We're not cutting anything. We are looking for efficiency opportunities, but we've fully funded essential services,' he said. However, the bulk of the tax cuts — in terms of actual dollars — would be implemented among the state's highest earners. An analysis by the Montana Budget and Policy Center indicates that the wealthiest 1% of Montanans would see roughly $10,000 in tax breaks under the policy, while individuals making $50,000 or less would receive less than $100. Gianforte said his proposal to lower the top tax rate, combined with expanding the earned income tax credit, is the only proposal that would reduce taxes for Montanans at every income level, but he will look at any income tax reform that passes the Legislature. 'Ultimately, there's different routes to get to a flat tax at a lower rate, and we'll consider those other bills if they get to my desk,' Gianforte said. One other proposal that got a committee hearing last week was House Bill 337, brought by Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage. Ler's bill took more of a middle ground approach. It proposed raising the lower tax bracket — the 4.7% rate — to $70,000 for individual filers, while also lowering the top rate down to 5.65% The measure was tabled in the House Taxation Committee on Tuesday in a 20-1 vote.
