Surplus squandered in Helena

There should be a T-shirt that reads, "Montana legislators went to Helena with a $1 billion surplus, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

That's about the size of it. The 2007 session was a letdown on many levels, but mostly in the sense that a one-time $400 rebate per household is all the property tax relief more than $1 billion could buy.

And that's because lawmakers spent the surplus on other things. To be sure they spent a lot of the money on good and helpful things. They boosted education, as usual. They put money into the corrections department. They passed an energy bill that will hopefully advance energy development. Some of the money went to one-time needed expenditures, such as public employee retirement funds.

Every bit of spending was arguably worthwhile, because most of the 22 percent increase in general fund spending was indeed argued over.

But, in the end, everybody can't have all the spending they want, and it was reasonable for Montana taxpayers to expect something more substantial in the form of property tax relief than they got. With the Legislature evenly divided, and Republicans insisting on tax-rate reductions coming from such a large surplus, we figured there would indeed be reductions to some degree, any degree, by the time it all ended.

But it did not come to pass.

And we're not alone in our disappointment.

"Where did it all go?" asked the Montana Chamber of Commerce, which took specific issue with the Legislature's failure to raise an exemption on the business equipment tax from the current $20,000 threshold to $80,000. The bill died in a Senate Committee on the last day, basically because most of the money had been spent and the bill didn't include Department of Revenue regulatory provisions sought by the Schweitzer administration but loudly opposed by the chamber and other business groups.

"Out of a $1 BILLION surplus and a projected $185 million sitting in the bank, they couldn't find it in their hearts to give a measly $21 million to 10,000 businesses," the Chamber statement said. "Pathetic."

It went on to say that the "vicious attitude" toward business throughout the session was a "shock."

It is shocking that businesses were so neglected in the end, considering that business and commercial activity in general generated most of the surplus, not household property taxes.

At one point during the special session, a Missoula lawmaker said on the House floor that in talking to his constituents, education was always the priority, and tax relief came in around fourth on the priority list. Well maybe that's true in Missoula, but it's certainly not the case here.

For years, we've heard candidates and citizens talk about the need for tax relief as a voter priority right up there with education.

But if meaningful property tax couldn't happen with a $1 billion surplus, when will it ever happen? Now that's discouraging.