Dear Editor: Our Outlook on Property Taxes is Deeply Flawed

Dear Editor,

Property taxes were addressed in the last legislative session through HB 231 and HB 542, creating a new framework for how property taxes are calculated in Montana. HB 231, brought forward by Llew Jones, is a 44-page bill that reset homeowner property taxes into four tiers. On the surface, this sounds reasonable: higher-valued properties pay higher rates. That is the theory.

In practice, however, this approach is deeply flawed.

First, many homeowners have owned their properties for 10 years or more and purchased them when values were 50% or more below today's assessments. These hom...