Senate votes down Gianforte property tax relief bill, again

Gov. Greg Gianforte’s signature property tax relief measure reached a possible end Thursday evening to its stop-and-go journey through the state Legislature as it narrowly failed a vote in the Montana Senate. The 25-25 vote cast further uncertainty into a turbulent debate over what’s seen as a must-fix problem by lawmakers across Montana’s ideological spectrum.

While several other pending bills could give lawmakers options for fixing surging residential property taxes, the vote on the governor-backed proposal indicates that lawmakers, who have at most 13 business days remaining in this year’s session, still haven’t landed on a solution with the critical mass of political support necessary to pass.

Specifically, Senate-side lawmakers appear to be deeply skeptical of relief measures that, like the governor’s proposal, would tweak tax rates to reduce taxes on homeowners by shifting burden to other types of property. Instead, the Senate’s Republican leadership has voiced support for rebate bills that route non-property tax dollars into discounts for homeowner tax bills.