It is impossible to be charitable with someone else’s money, forcibly taken from them.
Even though the tax controversy may have escaped your notice, it rages on in debates
between factions within the Montana Legislature. The positions taken by the different
factions matter in a very concrete way to all of us.

Some taxpayers saw a decrease in property taxes. One consequence of this is that
local governments collected less in taxes. But because local governments are statutorily
guaranteed a certain level of revenue, any shortfall will have to be made up by local
taxpayers. It should be understood that with a tax shift to other groups, among them
commercial properties and owners of multiple rental units, those groups will have to
recover their increased costs with higher prices. As long as the State continues to
spend money, you will pay one way or the other.

As an example, an article on KTVQ’s website from December 19, 2025 describes
shortfalls that will be experienced by local school districts — Lockwood, Billings, and
Laurel. If the State decides to recertify property values and rebill the property owners,
those taxes will go up. With a shortfall in Lockwood of $477,000, that would translate
into a substantial additional tax bill for property owners there and similar additional tax
bills for those in the other districts.

Proponents of the tax scheme passed in the last legislative session declare that the
scheme is a fiscal safeguard. But it isn’t a safeguard for you, it is a safeguard for the
State. The clear implication is that it is more important to make sure the State is on solid
financial footing than it is to make sure you and your family are. The amounts set aside
add up to a billion of your dollars and mine. Real prudence would require that the State
not take more of your money to begin with, particularly when it has a billion dollars extra
to put into trusts and reserves.

Look at it this way; the State took more money from you than it needed, then the State
put it out of your reach, and the State will now distribute your money where and when it
decides it is needed. My view of this is that you should be in charge of those decisions
— not the Legislature, the Governor, or anyone else.

What can be done? Read any defense of the tax shift with a grain of salt. Monitor the
sources of your increased costs, particularly industrial, commercial, and agricultural
costs. Perhaps most importantly, ask yourself if defenders of the tax schemes that came
out of the 2025 Legislative session believe that your money belongs to the State, or to
you?

Representative Lee Deming
House District 54

Published in Lee Enterprises newspapers, January 10, 2026 (https://helenair.com/opinion/column/article_432df74c-1b97-58d2-89ec-2e7d370b196a.html)