The child tax credit is one of the major proposals from Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration which has received vocal support from members of both parties.
Pat Flowers writes, "The month of January alone already revealed the true colors of the Republican-controlled Montana government. Instead of helping working families, they are pursuing extreme changes that will harm rather than benefit Montanans."
Legislation to exclude abortion from Montana’s constitutional protection for privacy advanced Wednesday in the Senate, as did a controversial GOP bill to reduce income taxes.
People earning a median income in Montana will get an extra $50 or so a year, according to an estimate from the Montana Budget and Policy Center. The center said those earning $570,000 or more, the wealthiest, will get nearly $6,000 on average.
A panel of lawmakers tabled and then revived one of the flagship bills in Gov. Gianforte's tax package, which would spend a quarter of the state’s nearly $2 billion surplus on property tax relief for homeowners.
Missoula city officials on Wednesday defended the fee increase, saying it was needed to permit and inspect new tourist homes and to ensure compliance with city regulations.
Dick Barrett writes, "What local governments really need is a tax system that allows them to raise revenue efficiently, fairly and in accordance with ability to pay. In that regard, the current property tax system is a miserable failure."
Lee Brown writes, "It does not take much googling to figure out what their bend is. I am not surprised that Gianforte would use them, they are part of the State Policy Network, another right-wing collection of 'think tanks.'"
The bill would impose yearly fees on electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles when a Montana resident registers or updates their registration in order to offset state losses in gas tax revenue.