Montana
Another way to address high property taxes in Montana – Daily Montanan
I just read an editorial called “Let’s end the property tax blame game” by Kendall Cotton in which he begins by blaming local governments for property tax increases, echoing Gov. Greg Gianforte’s attack on greedy county governments.
For their part, Democrats are saying that the Gianforte administration ignored the advice of the Montana Department of Revenue to implement a revenue neutral tax rate. That’s the rate at which the state would have got the same amount of money after reappraisal as it had before. It was not advice; it was a number the DOR is required to provide by law. And to be fair, it doesn’t seem that any Democrat introduced a bill to change the tax rate, either. (In Montana the appraised value of a home is multiplied by a tax rate to get the taxable value, which is what the mill levies are applied to.)
If I wanted to blame anything I would pin it on COVID and the TV series “Yellowstone” each of which caused people with money and independence to flock to Montana and raise the price of homes in those areas that are not surrounded by flat land and have fancy restaurants.
Cotton’s editorial goes: “There is no such thing as a free lunch in government. The root cause of taxation is government spending.” So, the simple answer is to get rid of government—and police forces and courts and schools and health care and highways and everything that government does, because it is asked to do it. Lincoln put it well:
“The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves—in their separate, and individual capacities.”
No, Mr. Cotton, the root cause of taxation is the need to pay for services that the public demands their governments provide as expressed by their approval or disapproval of political policies at the ballot box. Not everyone is happy, but in a democracy, the majority rules.
So, OK, what to do?
The property tax is the oldest form of taxation because it was the easiest to figure out. If a guy in Babylon was sitting on 1,000 bushels (or cubic cubits or however they measured volume then) of wheat, the government knew what wheat was selling for and taxed it accordingly. A property tax is a tax on wealth, it is based on the value of what you own. It is the only tax that is heavily based on external market forces and not individual actions as are wages earned or purchases made. If you look at maps of property tax increases in Montana (the Montana Free Press has an excellent analysis complete with such maps: https://montanafreepress.org/2023/12/07/how-much-montana-property-taxes-are-rising/) you can see that it varies quite a bit from county to county. That’s why it is difficult to find a statewide solution.
Yes, there is a temporary tax rebate which some had a difficult time applying for. I didn’t. Renters couldn’t. But this is a political gimmick used by Democrats and Republicans alike that does little to fix the problem.
The answer to all this, given the complexities, is relatively simple, already exists, and is capable of being broadened. It is the Elderly Homeowner Renter Property Tax Rebate. It is based on the principle that homeowners or renters should not pay more than a certain percentage of their income on property tax. It is now restricted to households with a person over 65 years old, a coddled cadre of individuals who as a group are generally financially more better off than others because they have by that age paid off most of their debt. Their favorable opinion is sought by retailers and politicians alike because there are so many of them (OK, us).
It has the benefits of putting the relief where it is most needed, does not rob the local taxing jurisdictions of needed income, is administered and paid for by the state using state employees and state money. And, if expanded to all ages, is fair. At least two bills were introduced to do this by Democrats but never made it out of committee.
Maybe by the next legislative session it will look better, but I doubt it.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 30, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 30 drawing
01-27-35-44-52, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from May 30 drawing
05-08-09-11-15, Star Ball: 04, ASB: 05
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from May 30 drawing
15-18-22-27, Bonus: 14
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from May 30 drawing
04-27-65-66-69, Powerball: 04
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from May 30 drawing
17-19-23-32-38
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 30 drawing
05-14-22-28-30, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
A group of legal and civil rights organizations late Friday sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over conditions at Camp East Montana in El Paso, the country’s largest immigration detention facility.
“Camp East Montana is nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe,” Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment that the Trump administration has inflicted on our clients.”
The Texas Tribune has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Filed by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun + Martel, the federal lawsuit comes less than a year after the opening of the sprawling tent camp.
In that time, the facility has seen at least three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak and nearly 50 detention standards violations as reported by ICE’s own inspectors, prompting calls for the camp’s closure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers.
The civil rights groups behind the lawsuit also alleged in a December letter that detained immigrants were subject to medical neglect, physical and sexual abuse by officers, insufficient food and denial of meaningful access to attorneys. In March, ICE switched out the facility’s prime operator for a more experienced contractor, saying the agency would “work closely with them” to improve services, including higher standards of medical care. Still, in a subsequent letter to ICE dated May 22, the groups said the situation “continued to deteriorate” and outlined additional complaints such as hazardous dust exposure.
Friday’s lawsuit argues that conditions at the facility are “unconstitutional punishment” and violate detainees’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
“These conditions are longstanding, pervasive, and well documented, and Defendants’ continued inaction in the face of known risks shows their deliberate indifference — not mere negligence — to detainees’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit said.
The petition, filed on behalf of four detainees, is also seeking approval to proceed as a class action to cover all those who are currently or will be detained in Camp East Montana.
One of the plaintiffs is Gerald Akari Angye, a detained immigrant who called the conditions at the camp “inhumane and cruel.”
Prior to this lawsuit, the 35-year-old man had filed a petition in January seeking release from ICE detention. According to the filing, Angye was a high school teacher in Cameroon but fled after being kidnapped and tortured amid a separatist conflict. He sought asylum after crossing through a New Mexico port of entry in December 2024. An immigration judge later denied his application, and Angye appealed.
In a statement provided by the civil rights groups, Angye said he had been beaten at Camp East Montana and never thought he would face “such severely violent treatments” in the United States. He was also placed in solitary confinement for 15 days, according to the lawsuit.
“No one deserves such cruel treatment,” he said. “We are all humans and deserve to be treated like it.”
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a statement to the Tribune that she is grateful for the legal fight. A leading critic of Camp East Montana, the El Paso Democrat called the facility “a purgatory for human beings held there.” She also vowed to continue her oversight visits and demand for the tent camp’s permanent closure.
Camp East Montana, first opened in August 2025, is located on Fort Bliss U.S. Army base.
Expected to ultimately reach a 5,000-bed capacity, the camp had a daily average of more than 2,500 detainees as of April 2, according to the most recent public data from ICE. The facility has also held the largest number of detained immigrants thus far in fiscal year 2026, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found.
“Camp East Montana is at the epicenter of the administration’s cruel deportation agenda,” Savannah Kumar, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement.
Disclosure: ACLU Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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