For the 2011 Montana Legislature, Gov. Brian Schweitzer built $36 million in homeowner property tax cuts into his executive budget. It was promptly removed by a solidly GOP-controlled Legislature. Rep. Wayne Stahl, R-Saco, proposed $70 million in homeowner property tax refunds. His bill was tabled. Rep. Pat Ingraham, R-Thompson Falls, proposed taxing homes on the […]

Tea Partiers are stunned that the Affordable Care Act passed the U.S. Supreme Court’s test of constitutionality. “Well it looks like what was sold on a lie was found constitutional on that lie,” State Auditor candidate Derek Skees wrote in a website release after the court’s judgment. During the 2011 Montana Legislature, Skees unsuccessfully sought […]

When former President George W. Bush used tax rebates to stimulate the national economy, taxpayers received checks to spend at places like the downtown hardware store. One Bush rebate was $168 billion and termed economic stimulus to jumpstart a lagging 2008 economy. Nearly 130 million households took advantage of tax rebates that ranged from $300 […]

Unless Congress acts the existing Farm Bill sunsets this fall. If Congress refuses to pass a new Farm Bill, elected leaders essentially eliminate food stamps – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – for millions of Americans right before the general election in November. That is just silly. The Republican-controlled U.S. House may want to eliminate SNAP. […]

Voter fatigue will soon take a strangle hold upon the electorate. With busloads of corporate and secret campaign cash being poured into Montana, citizens will simply tune out. Most statewide and national races will poll 46 percent to 46 percent from now until October. And then the 8 percent of undecided voters will choose the […]

Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer joined Republican Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger and 93-year-old former Republican Secretary of State Verner Bertelsen in signing a citizens’ initiative to place on the November ballot a policy that states, “corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights because they are not human beings.” The ballot initiative seeks Montana policy that charges […]

For nearly three decades Montana has banned the practice of basing insurance premiums upon a person’s gender. Last year, a new brand of lawmaker nearly repealed Montana’s unisex insurance laws. Unisex laws are gender-blind. In 2005, Senate Bill 351 by Duane Grimes, R-Clancy, was tabled by a Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. In 2008, when running […]

The conservative Tax Foundation is a Washington, D.C. based think tank with a long history of publishing research studies and comparing state tax policy. The foundation receives funding from big corporations and far-right political groups. Tax Freedom Day is the foundation’s point of the year when Americans have earned enough money to pay for taxes. […]

In the next couple of years, middle-class Montanans are eligible for a sizable tax credit from the Affordable Care Act. It is refundable so taxpayers who have little income tax liability can still fully benefit. The credit can be paid in advance to a taxpayer’s insurance company to help cover the cost of premiums. All […]

Title X is the federal grant program that provides comprehensive family planning and other health-related services to people. Two-thirds of the patients live in poverty and have no health insurance. In 1969, President Richard Nixon said, “It is my view that no American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her […]

President Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps for millions of youth to serve and restore America’s parks and stabilize the economy. The Going-to-the Sun Road could not have been built without the CCC. CCC served in Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. From reforestation to campground development to trail building to fire hazard […]

Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow from Michigan announced that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will begin public policy hearings on the next Farm Bill. Luckily for Montana, Sen. Max Baucus sits on this committee that encourages farms to produce good food. Montana ranks fifth in the nation for producing wheat. Counties like Chouteau and Hill […]

During the past decade, the tri-cities of Flathead County were the fastest growing places in Montana. Propelled by record growth, property valuations skyrocketed. The 2009 worldwide credit-fiasco depressed the valley leaving middle class prospects dismal. Three years later, Whitefish is trudging back. Median home values again hover around late 2009 levels, which ballparks the pre-bubble […]

In one of the first initiatives Montana voters passed, the 100-year-old Corrupt Practices Act prohibits direct corporate campaign contributions. Montana’s state and local elections are still transparent by mandated disclosure laws. The U.S. Constitution never gave person-rights to corporations. The activist U.S. Supreme Court reopened those floodgates with Citizens United. Justice John Paul Stevens said […]

Most in Congress ignore the growing hunger for better food. Today a budding constituency is fed up with the quality of our school lunches and the laboratory modifications made to real food. Food has become a social movement. It makes sense: people make eating decisions three times a day. And eaters do not like all […]