KALISPELL — Gov. Greg Gianforte visited Kalispell Wednesday morning for a roundtable discussion with focused on the pressing issue of property taxes.
During the meeting, the governor highlighted the Homestead Rate Cut Bill currently making its way through the legislature. The legislation aims to provide significant relief to hard-working Montanans, especially seniors on fixed incomes.
Glenn Wehe — who's on a fixed income after retiring from the Evergreen School District — said his neighbors in the Flathead are struggling as property taxes continue to rise.
"It's important for me and people my age to still be able to afford here instead of getting taxed out of their homes, you hear stories about that all the time, I just wanted to see if the governor would listen to us or not," said Wehe.
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Gov. Gianforte said the Homestead Rate Cut Bill would lower property taxes for Montana homeowners by 15% and small businesses by 18%.
"Just talking about the impact of this national affordability crisis and the fact that property taxes are just too high and the importance of getting them down," said Gov. Gianforte.
He noted the proposed bill would shift the tax burden on properties like vacation homes and short-term rentals while lowering property taxes for primary residences, long-term rentals and small businesses.
"You have to ask who's going to pick up the tab. Well, it would shift the burden to out-of-staters with second homes here, and my group of people this morning were pretty enthusiastic about that," said Gov. Gianforte.
Sandra Barnett — who lives in the small community of Marion roughly 20 miles west of Kalispell — said her kids can't afford to live in Montana anymore as property taxes continue to rise.
Barnett is worried about the next generation of Montanans being priced out of their home state.
"For seniors and people that have children it is so expensive, and a lot of places doubled and tripled in taxes, and they can't afford it anymore and they are leaving," said Barnett.
