Don’t you just love it when out-of-touch transplants with extremist Freedom Caucus ties pretend they’ve cracked the code on Montana taxes-just in time to chase votes?
Steven Kelly’s latest hit piece on HB 231 and SB 542 is a familiar routine: lots of complaining, zero solutions. In Flathead County homeowners saw real tax relief as did most year-round Montanans.
Kelly conveniently skips a few facts. Residential values have exploded – 66% statewide and up to 95% in Flathead over recent cycles – shifting a bigger share of the tax burden onto everyday homeowners benefiting major corporations. Northwestern Energy alone saved about $38 million, and BNSF benefited in the millions. Not surprisingly, the folks who won big under the old system hired well paid lobbyists to protect it.
Here’s the part too many people ignore: property taxes stay local. They fund our schools, roads, law enforcement, and fire departments right here. If you want to understand rising bills, look at local collections. Kalispell’s own numbers tell the story: $9,792,535 in FY2023 jumped to $11,327,039 in FY2024 (up 15.7%), then exploded to $16,427,988 in FY2025 (up 45%). That’s local growth and local decisions-too fast in my view but not done by some boogeyman in Helena.
Then there’s the TIF “leak.” Kalispell operates multiple active Tax Increment Financing districts, diverting growth that could otherwise buy down mills for everyone. Overuse of TIFs forces primary homeowners to pick up the slack while handing the city a slush fund to spend as they choose.
HB 231 and SB 542 aimed at protecting primary residents and long-term rentals – the people who live and work here-not out-of-state corporations, vacation empires, or short-term rental barons turning neighborhoods into hotels. Roughly 89% of residential parcels statewide saw flat or lower bills, and most homes under $1.7 million (including the vast majority of primary homes) came out ahead.
Kelly and his extremist allies can shout about conspiracies and “winners and losers,” but they still won’t say the quiet part out loud: their “solution” is to repeal relief for smaller homes so bigger second homes, out-of-staters, and corporate winners get a better deal.
No tax bill is perfect. But these reforms delivered honest, practical relief-and Montana needs more results and less hot air. I’m glad there are still legislators like Llew Jones, a Montana native, who prioritize the average Montana homeowner and who has no high-paid lobbyist in their comer.
Rob Tracy is the retired transportation director for the Bigfork School District.