Montana

Montana Viewpoint: The Big (true) Beautiful (not really) Bill

Published

8 months ago

May 20, 2025

Montana Viewpoint: The Big (true) Beautiful (not really) Bill

Jim Elliott

After all the concern about runaway government spending and the hand wringing about the budget deficit why on earth would Congress want to pass a tax bill that cuts taxes for the 400-plus American billionaires, pays for it by penalizing sick and lower income people and STILL increases the deficit by $3 trillion?

And, why on earth would the administration want to cut the IRS, the people that actually collect the taxes and root out tax fraud?

There’s an easy answer—to cut government by lowering the amount of money available to spend.

And that doesn’t sound like a bad thing until you look at what the American people ask government to do. When I talked to people who decried government spending years ago, I would ask them what government programs that they used would they recommend for elimination. Oh, well, that’s different. Ask your own self that question.

There is, and has been for a long time, a movement that wants to reduce government to the point where they can “drown it in a bathtub”. That’s a cute way to put it, but they are serious and now they are being successful. The reason for doing that is to get government out of the way and let them make as much money as they want.

Billionaires don’t need government like regular people do. They do not need government health care insurance, they do not have to rely on local police, they can pay out of their own vast wealth for all the things that regular people need. They can hire their own security, live in gated communities, keep a doctor on their personal staff. Well, good for them, but why should they make it hard for the rest of us?

It is hard to find a calm analysis of the “Big Beautiful Bill” Most of the Republicans think it is wonderful, for the Democrats it will be the end of the world as we know it. In truth, there will be tax advantages for most people, but there will also be increased hardship for those Americans who are sick and poor. The “deserving” sick or poor, I mean.

There will be work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP (which used to be called food stamps). That’s to lower the cost to the government and to cut down on fraud. Perhaps that’s to make being sick and hungry more attractive. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana has claimed that there is an annual $50 billion in “fraudulent payments” to Medicaid. But that flies in the face of reality because such fraud as is being committed is committed by Medicaid providers, not patients. At the same time the President is cutting the number of Inspectors General who are the people who are supposed to ride herd on fraud. All this from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

So, America’s taxpayers with incomes over a million dollars a year will get a huge tax cut. They already award themselves an estimated $150 billion a year through tax evasion according to the IRS. In 2022 (the last year for which I can find information) the IRS estimated that there was $609 billion lost to tax evaders. Collecting that would offset the projected deficit in the bill in five years.

We will see what we will get, but I will always be amazed at those American billionaires for whom too much is not enough.

Montana Viewpoint has appeared in weekly and online newspapers across Montana for over 30 years. Jim Elliott served sixteen years in the Montana Legislature as a state representative and state senator. He lives on his ranch in Trout Creek.

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Montana

Photos: Montana State clips Illinois State to win national championship

Published

8 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Photos: Montana State clips Illinois State to win national championship

Montana State plays Illinois State in the FCS national championship game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.Justin Hosa / MTN Sports

Montana State topped Illinois State 35-34 in overtime to claim their first National Championship since 1984.TOM WYLIE/MTN Sports

Montana State plays Illinois State in the FCS national championship game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.Kyle Hansen / MTN Sports

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Montana

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

Published

20 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Montana State squares off with Illinois State Monday night in the FCS national championship game at FirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

The Bobcats are making their third trip to the title game in the past five seasons under coach Brent Vigen. The program is seeking its first championship since 1984.

MTN Sports has been on the ground in Nashville for the past five days covering the lead-up to the game, including the pregame show “Bobcat Built: Montana State’s Championship Quest” hosted by Scott Breen and Kyle Hansen.

In it the MTN staff provides game previews, features, facts and figures and sights and sounds from the past several days in Music City in the run-up to the game. To watch, see the video reel below.

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

Bobcat Built: Montana State’s Championship Quest

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Montana

Photos: Past and present Montana State Bobcats meet in Nashville

Published

1 day ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Photos: Past and present Montana State Bobcats meet in Nashville

Past Montana State football players meet with current Bobcats during a team walk-through at the indoor practice facility at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.Kyle Hansen / MTN Sports

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Montana Viewpoint: The Big (true) Beautiful (not really) Bill

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Montana Viewpoint: The Big (true) Beautiful (not really) Bill

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Photos: Montana State clips Illinois State to win national championship

Montana

Watch: Bobcat Built – Montana State’s Championship Quest

Montana

Photos: Past and present Montana State Bobcats meet in Nashville

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