It’s time to change property tax structure

Citizens! We have a chance, right now, to save our homes, save our communities, save our place in this exceptional state for now and for generations to come. And if we, the people, don’t act now, then, as a local legislator recently said “You might have to consider moving.”

The saving act is for you and your friends to sign the petition to get CI-121 on the ballot and then vote for it during the 2022 election.

CI-121 amends the Montana Constitution by capping the property tax rate at 1% and rolling back the tax valuation of your home to where it stood in 2019. After that, the taxes on your home could increase only 2% per year. It is a simple, one page initiative. It puts an end to the costly cycle of re-appraising your property every two years. It gives regular homeowners a chance to hold onto their homes as wealthy people flood in and inflate the value of neighborhoods and make all of our property taxes go up.

We may be helpless to stop inflation at the gas pump, the grocery store or our favorite restaurant, but we are not helpless against this crazy rise of property taxes. Sign the CI-121 petition and then vote for it when it shows up on the ballot.

Is CI-121 a game-changer? You bet. Is now the time to change the tax structure? You bet. Will property tax revenues go down? Maybe. Revenues from marijuana are just starting to trickle in to the tune of $313,000 in one weekend. New people are flooding into Montana with annual incomes way over the average Montanan. That’s a lot of new revenue.

Will newcomers still pay property taxes on that million dollar shack they just bought? Yes, and that is a lot more new revenue. You, however, will not see your property tax rate go up more than 1% a year from the 2019 value of your home.

So much of the new revenue can be wisely channeled. In Colorado, marijuana tax revenues have been directed to schools. It’s been transformative for Colorado. The booming property tax revenues from new homes can be directed toward local governments to support law-enforcement and local infrastructure.

Legislators and powerful lobbies are worried about CI-121. They know the game is rigged. To the legislators credit, they have tried to help poor elderly Montana homeowners. Unfortunately, measures like sections 15 – 30 –2337 and 15 – 30–2341 buried in the administrative rules of the Montana code are feeble ($1,000 per year maximum tax credit), hard to find and confusing to apply for. CI-121 offers simple, predictable protection from out of control property taxes for all homeowners. All of us.

Petitions to get CI-121 on the ballot are available at cappropertytaxes.com. Download it. Sign it. Tell your friends. Or, “You might have to consider moving.”

Paul Coats lives in Whitefish.