Montana
Montana: Who Pays? 7th Edition
January 9, 2024 • By ITEP Staff
Montana Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Montana, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.5 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Montana. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]
Montana Budget & Policy Center: Tax Credits for Workers and Families
November 23, 2022 • By ITEP Staff
Montana has an opportunity to invest high state revenues to support families and individuals and improve our tax system. State tax credits targeted to those in most need of assistance help Montanans struggling to afford necessities. By expanding the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), establishing a refundable state Child Tax Credit (CTC), and passing […]
Montana Budget & Policy Center: Policy Basics: Who Pays Taxes in Montana
March 3, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
Our tax dollars serve as shared investments in the programs and services that make our state a great place to live, work, and play. Tax dollars enable Montanans to work together for things we cannot achieve alone like a quality education for our children, the development and maintenance of infrastructure, public safety through police and […]
Montana Budget & Policy Center: What Proposed Tax Cuts Really Mean for Montanans
February 3, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
The 2021 Montana Legislature has the opportunity to address longstanding inequities in Montana’s tax code that have made life harder for many families. Previous legislatures have chosen to balance the budget by cutting needed services for our seniors, Montanans with disabilities, and those struggling with mental health instead of finding common-sense solutions to fairly increase […]
Voters Have the Chance in 2020 to Increase Tax Equity in Arizona, Illinois, and California, And They Should
October 22, 2020 • By Marco Guzman
There’s a lot at stake in this election cycle: the nation and our economy are reeling from the effects brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and states remain in limbo as they weigh deep budget cuts and rush to address projected revenue shortfalls.
You Can’t Tax Stolen Land
April 12, 2019 • By Misha Hill
The Montana Senate this week stopped a bill to restructure the state's temporary tribal tax exemption program, making tribal governments the only sovereignties on which Montana levies a tax and making it more difficult for leaders to buy back illegally seized land. Still, the success of the bill in the House is troubling.
Montana Budget & Policy Center: House Bill 300: Sales Tax Proposal Makes Montana’s Taxes More Regressive and Reduces State Revenue
February 5, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
Replacing property taxes with a sales tax is both impractical and unfair for Montana families. HB 300 would make Montana’s tax system more regressive, increasing the taxes paid by families living on lower- and middle-incomes in the state while decreasing the taxes paid by the wealthy. Read more here
Law360: Montana Mulls Statewide Sales Tax To Replace Property Taxes
January 24, 2019 • By Meg Wiehe
Montana could become the first state in the nation to eliminate residential and commercial property taxes in exchange for creating a new 2.5 percent statewide sales tax...
Montana: Who Pays? 6th Edition
October 17, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
According to ITEP’s Tax Inequality Index, Montana’s state and local tax system does not worsen income inequality and ranks 43rd on the index. The large income gap between lower- and middle-income taxpayers, as compared to the wealthy, is somewhat narrower after state and local taxes than before.
Twelve States Offer Profitable Tax Shelter to Private School Voucher Donors; IRS Proposal Could Fix This
October 2, 2018 • By Carl Davis
A proposed IRS regulation would eliminate a tax shelter for private school donors in twelve states by making a commonsense improvement to the federal tax deduction for charitable gifts. For years, some affluent taxpayers who donate to private K-12 school voucher programs have managed to turn a profit by claiming state tax credits and federal tax deductions that, taken together, are worth more than the amount donated. This practice could soon come to an end under the IRS’s broader goal of ending misuse of the charitable deduction by people seeking to dodge the federal SALT deduction cap.
Tax Cuts 2.0 – Montana
September 26, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The $2 trillion 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes several provisions set to expire at the end of 2025. Now, GOP leaders have introduced a bill informally called “Tax Cuts 2.0” or “Tax Reform 2.0,” which would make the temporary provisions permanent. And they falsely claim that making these provisions permanent will benefit […]
How the Final GOP-Trump Tax Bill Would Affect Montana Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 16, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The final tax bill that Republicans in Congress are poised to approve would provide most of its benefits to high-income households and foreign investors while raising taxes on many low- and middle-income Americans. The bill would go into effect in 2018 but the provisions directly affecting families and individuals would all expire after 2025, with […]
Private Schools Donors Likely to Win Big from Expanded Loophole in Tax Bill
December 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
For years, private schools around the country have been making an unusual pitch to prospective donors: give us your money, and you’ll get so many state and federal tax breaks in return that you may end up turning a profit. Under tax legislation being considered in Congress right now, that pitch is about to become even more persuasive.
Tax Bill Would Increase Abuse of Charitable Giving Deduction, with Private K-12 Schools as the Biggest Winners
December 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
In its rush to pass a major rewrite of the tax code before year’s end, Congress appears likely to enact a “tax reform” that creates, or expands, a significant number of tax loopholes.[1] One such loophole would reward some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals with a strategy for padding their own bank accounts by “donating” to support private K-12 schools. While a similar loophole exists under current law, its size and scope would be dramatically expanded by the legislation working its way through Congress.[2]
How the House and Senate Tax Bills Would Affect Montana Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The House passed its “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” November 16th and the Senate passed its version December 2nd. Both bills would raise taxes on many low- and middle-income families in every state and provide the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors substantial tax cuts, while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years. The graph below shows that both bills are skewed to the richest 1 percent of Montana residents.
State Rundown 11/29: Thanksgiving Leftovers Edition
November 29, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The State Rundown is back from Thanksgiving break with a heaping helping of leftover state tax news, but beware, some of it may be rotten.
How the Revised Senate Tax Bill Would Affect Montana Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 14, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Senate tax bill released last week would raise taxes on some families while bestowing immense benefits on wealthy Americans and foreign investors. In Montana, 52 percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest 5 percent of residents, and 9 percent of households would face a tax increase, once the bill is fully implemented.
State Rundown 11/8: Online Sales Tax Fight and Tax Subsidy Absurdity Go National
November 8, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Internet sales tax fairness efforts gained momentum this week as most states joined together to encourage the US Supreme Court to allow them to collect taxes on online sales. Meanwhile, Montana lawmakers will enter special session next week to plug their revenue shortfall, Mississippi's (self-inflicted) revenue crunch is reaching unprecedented severity, and misguided corporate tax subsidies got mainstream attention from HBO's John Oliver and Rolling Stone.
How the House Tax Proposal Would Affect Montana Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on November 2 in the House of Representatives, includes some provisions that raise taxes and some that cut taxes, so the net effect for any particular family’s federal tax bill depends on their situation. Some of the provisions that benefit the middle class — like lower tax rates, an increased standard deduction, and a $300 tax credit for each adult in a household — are designed to expire or become less generous over time. Some of the provisions that benefit the wealthy, such as the reduction and eventual repeal of the estate…
GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in Montana with 56.9 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
October 4, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in Montana equally. The richest one percent of Montana residents would receive 56.9 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $535,400 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $68,950 in 2018, which would increase their income by an average of 3.8 percent.
In Montana 44.5 Percent of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million
August 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A tiny fraction of the Montana population (0.4 percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But this elite group would receive 44.5 percent of the tax cuts that go to Montana residents under the tax proposals from the Trump administration. A much larger group, 48.5 percent of the state, earns less than $45,000, but would receive just 4.1 percent of the tax cuts.
Trump Tax Proposals Would Provide Richest One Percent in Montana with 51 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
July 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Earlier this year, the Trump administration released some broadly outlined proposals to overhaul the federal tax code. Households in Montana would not benefit equally from these proposals. The richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers are projected to make an average income of $1,819,000 in 2018. They would receive 51 percent of the tax cuts that go to Montana’s residents and would enjoy an average cut of $113,270 in 2018 alone.
Investors and Corporations Would Profit from a Federal Private School Voucher Tax Credit
May 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, details how tax subsidies that funnel money toward private schools are being used as profitable tax shelters by high-income taxpayers. By exploiting interactions between federal and state tax law, high-income taxpayers in nine states are currently able […]
Public Loss Private Gain: How School Voucher Tax Shelters Undermine Public Education
May 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis, Sasha Pudelski
One of the most important functions of government is to maintain a high-quality public education system. In many states, however, this objective is being undermined by tax policies that redirect public dollars for K-12 education toward private schools.
EITC Victories Await in Both Hawaii and Montana
May 4, 2017 • By Aidan Davis
Two states are on the verge of embracing a tried and tested anti-poverty policy, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In the past two weeks, lawmakers in both Hawaii and Montana passed EITC legislation, which governors in both states are expected to sign. Once officially enacted, these states will join 26 other states and the […]
