LETTER: Gianforte is against sales tax

I am a licensed CPA here in Montana. I was curious as to why Montana has never eliminated the income tax, and replaced it with a sales tax. Given Montana’s high number of visitors and seasonal residents, a sales tax would seemingly provide incremental revenue to the state (paid for by non-residents). And (so the thinking goes), by eliminating the income tax, Montana could start attracting companies which have historically found the income-tax climate better in other states.

I had a call with Greg Gianforte on March 2, 2015, to discuss this. During that call, Greg was very clear that he opposed a sales tax. Here’s why. Most visitors are already being taxed on many of the dollars they spend in Montana, in the form of occupancy/hotel taxes, fuel taxes, rental car taxes, and in some towns, resort taxes. Since many groceries are often exempt from sales taxes, the only items which would be subject to sales tax are non-food purchases (clothing, recreational equipment, etc.). The sales taxes on these items would not be enough to offset Montana’s current income-tax revenue.

Instead of a sales tax, Greg explained that he supported using any budget surpluses to reduce Montana’s income-tax rate.

So, please let the record reflect that Greg Gianforte has thought about this subject a lot, and is against a sales tax. —Mike Rossi, Whitefish