Group Takes Another Run At Capping Montana Property Taxes
 | Author:
Eric Dietrich, Montana Free Press
Montana Free Press |
Group Takes Another Run at Capping Montana Property Taxes
Eric Dietrich
Montana Free Press
This article was originally published in the Montana Free Press on November 14, 2024.
https://montanafreepress.org/2024/11/13/group-takes-another-run-at-initiative-to-cap-montana-property-taxes/?utm_medium=email
New iteration would cap tax value growth at 2% a year on primary residences that don’t change ownership.
The initiative would require the state to value homes for tax purposes annually, as opposed to the current two-year cycle, and limit the annual growth in assessed value for primary residences that don’t change ownership to 2% a year. When a home is sold, its assessment would generally reset to market value.
Under current law, residential properties are assessed by the state Department of Revenue for tax purposes at the department’s best estimate for their market value. As market values spiked amid the state’s housing crunch in recent years, that translated into higher tax valuations and higher tax bills for most homeowners.
The series of tax cap initiatives advanced by Monforton’s group, similar to California’s landmark Prop 13, have broadly sought to shield homeowners from rising taxes. Opponents, including the Montana Federation of Public Employees and the Montana Association of Realtors, have worried the measures would upend the tax system that funds K-12 education, law enforcement and most other local government services. They’ve also worried that having a tax benefit created by long-term residence would discourage homeowners from upgrading to new homes.
The proposal follows 2022’s Constitutional Amendment 121, which failed to clear a ballot collection threshold after it faced litigation and a $300,000 opposition campaign. Another push last year by Monforton’s group died in the courts after Attorney General Austin Knudsen and the Montana Supreme Court declared that the 2024 iteration of the proposal included too many provisions to comply with the state’s single-subject rule.
Monforton said that the new iteration of his group’s initiative has been revised to account for last year’s court ruling, focusing only on capping tax valuations rather than both valuations and tax rates. He’s optimistic that the new proposal will withstand inevitable legal scrutiny.
“We anticipate a blizzard of lawsuits from the state and special interests who will try to prevent homeowners from getting real relief,” he said. “And we’re confident we’ll prevail in the courts.”
To download the full initiative go to:
https://montanafreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2026-Property-Tax-Initiative.pdf
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