Montanans sounded a clear call for the Legislature to accomplish one thing this session: to provide them with real, permanent property tax relief. We are proud to say that we have answered the call, and 400,000 Montanans will see hundreds of millions in property tax relief.
Together, House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542 provide real savings and real reform for Montana homeowners and small businesses. This package provides relief in two phases, with the median-value home seeing as much as a 40% cut to their 2025 tax bill. Most homeowners will also receive a $400 rebate on their primary residence.
We are also proud to include farmsteads in this relief package, giving them a significant one-year rate cut in 2025 and protecting them with a long-term reduction compared to historic farmstead taxes. Finally, this reform package provides small businesses and agricultural land a tax rate drop that continues beyond 2025.
A landmark feature of this relief package is its fairness. Nearly a quarter of Montana’s residential home value is owned by non-residents who benefit from our infrastructure but pay no income tax. To offset the permanent property tax rate relief we passed, vacation homes and short-term rentals will see higher tax rates so that primary residents who live, work, and go to school here in Montana see real relief without cuts to services.
Despite some legislators, particularly from the so-called Freedom Caucus, attempting to mislead Montanans by claiming we passed no property tax relief this session, the real result of these bills is lower property taxes for 230,000 homeowners, 130,000 renters, and 40,000 businesses and farms. We fought hard to deliver real, permanent relief for Montanans despite corporate interests like NorthWestern Energy attempting to stymie property tax reductions to protect their own coffers.
While delivering much-needed property tax relief this session is an accomplishment on its own, we did so by working across the aisle in what was a true bipartisan win for Montana. It took leaders working together, regardless of the letter behind our name, to stand up to ideological pressure and corporate lobbying to deliver real results.
You asked for relief, and we answered. Extremism and party politics didn’t deliver real, measurable property tax relief going straight to those who need it most. When others chose politics, we chose solutions, all because we believe you come first.
Representative David Bedey, R-Hamilton; Senator Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls, Representative Mark Thane, D-Missoula, Representative Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, Senator Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, and Representative Llew Jones, R-Conrad.