Montana

Pondering bringing the family together in Montana

Published

2 years ago

July 23, 2024

Press Room

Pondering bringing the family together in Montana

Lisa Schmidt
| Special to the Great Falls Tribune

Two years ago when I heard the words tumbling from my mouth, they seemed like a great idea.

All of my cool, out-of-state cousins could come to the ranch for a long weekend and enjoy some Montana-style fun.

Of course, back then I had plenty of time to repaint the peeling trim on the house, repair the crumbling rock wall, clear the clogged septic system, and plant an abundant garden next to a verdant lawn.

This idea sparked from an uncle’s birthday party. My cousin, Brent, managed to bring all of us together for an afternoon, despite long distances and threadbare family fabric. At the impromptu after-party, cousins who had not seen each other for years discovered we all liked one another. Even better, we wanted to see each other again.

My ranch seemed like a perfect place for a reunion.

They would have to make more of an effort than I – it isn’t easy to get to Conrad, Montana, even if it is the true epicenter of the universe.

Still, I wanted my cousins to be impressed, not live my reality.

By last week, I could flush the toilet.

The rest of my vision was fading fast.

The hot sun and wind sucked the grass dry, my tomatoes were still recovering from a late frost and I could pick peeling paint from the house trim as I walked past the windows.

So much for putting my best foot forward.

So I shifted my goals from appearing to embrace conventional societal standards to refraining from poisoning people I love with my potato salad.

Fortunately, my brother brought the potato salad.

The thermometer in the shade pointed to the 90s.

My guard dogs growled sometimes.

People said it was too far to walk to the tepee I set up inside an old tepee ring far from the house so they could enjoy the isolated beauty of the prairie — although the kids managed to skip and jog the entire three-quarters of a mile.

I realized that other people choose convenience over isolation and shade over sweat.

Oh.

Right.

That meant I needed to modify my plan to set up a shooting range a half mile from the house.

Instead, my shop became the shady visitors center from which to fire at targets.

Their rifles came out one day, pistols the next.

Despite these blips in my interpretation of cultural norms and expectations, we all had a good time.

The kids swam in the creek while adults sat under a few shady chokecherry bushes.

The wagon ride to the sheepherder’s monument compressed a few passengers’ vertebrae, but they comprehended the scope of the landscape.

Some of us reviewed progress on my building remodeling project.

Others fed the orphan lambs.

We took turns playing cornhole, trash-talking when necessary.

We learned that a competitive spirit just might be a shared dominant gene.

We relived childhood stories and recounted successes and failures of adulthood.

Nobody mentioned the peeling paint.

We all ate too much.

People made supper and even cleaned up my kitchen.

Everyone contributed.

Best of all, we talked about our plans for the future.

Those plans included seeing one another again.

We wove the threads of our various lives into our family fabric again – fabric not quite yellow twine strong, but definitely as tough as wool yarn.

Our next family reunion is now scheduled for next August, at a family tree farm in Oregon. All I need to do is show up, wash a few dishes and weave threads into an even stronger family fabric.

I can do that.

Meanwhile, I give it 50-50 odds on whether my house trim will be painted and the rock wall repaired by then.

Lisa Schmidt raises grass-fed beef and lamb at the Graham Ranch near Conrad. Lisa can be reached at L.Schmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.

Source link

Click to comment

Montana

Montana Lottery Mega Millions, Big Sky Bonus results for July 17, 2026

Published

10 hours ago

July 18, 2026

Press Room

The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at July 17, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from July 17 drawing

22-34-45-48-55, Mega Ball: 14

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 17 drawing

20-21-25-27, Bonus: 05

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 17 drawing

03-19-38-48-58, 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.

Source link

Montana

Montana Primed for Flat Income Tax Push in 2027 – Flathead Beacon

Published

22 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Press Room

Montana Primed for Flat Income Tax Push in 2027 – Flathead Beacon

Six months before the legislative session is slated to kick off, a group of Republicans in Senate leadership have thrown their support behind a flat income tax proposal for 2027, thrusting one of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s long-term priorities into the spotlight.

A Monday press release cited support for the policy from Senate President Matt Regier; Senate President Pro Tempore Ken Bogner; Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray; all the Senate majority whips; and Greg Hertz, R-Polson, who heads the Senate Taxation committee. Regier has requested a bill draft to “lower Montana income tax rates” for the 2027 session.

“The governor is encouraged by the growing support for his call for a flat income tax and looks forward to working with the legislature to deliver on this promise to Montanans,” said Kaitlin Timken, the governor’s director of communications. “In 2027, Governor Gianforte is focused on securing a fair, flat income tax rate to continue Montana’s strong economic momentum and return money back to Montanans who work hard to earn it.”

For the last three legislative sessions, the legislature has slashed income tax rates, moving the top income tax bracket from 6.9% to 5.4% during Gianforte’s tenure. The state has also moved from seven different income tax brackets to two.

Even as members of Senate leadership proclaim their support for the move to a flat income tax ahead of 2027’s session, some have found themselves at odds with more aggressive efforts to slash income taxes before.

During the 2025 session, for instance, the governor’s income tax proposal in Senate Bill 323 was tabled in Hertz’s Senate Taxation Committee. It would have cut the top-bracket tax rate from 5.9% to 4.9%. Hertz told the Montana Free Press at the time the legislation “pulls off too much money, too fast, at the top.” What eventually passed in 2025 in the form of House Bill 337 was a phased decrease of that top-bracket rate from 5.9% to 5.4%, along with raising the maximum threshold for the lower tax bracket, which stands at 4.7%.

Regier cited “momentum” on the issue as the reason Senate leadership has jumped into the fray to back the idea now. He said getting Senate leadership on board included some debate on the issue. But ultimately, there was agreement that the governor’s position was right on flat income tax. Regier pointed to both income tax and property tax cuts as topics of importance to Senate leadership ahead of 2027.

“We’ve had large, large surpluses in the past two sessions,” Regier said in an interview with the Beacon. “I’m looking at another surplus session. We have cut income tax the last two sessions … so it’s, to me, the premise of this — and to a lot of Republicans — is government is not a business. We should only take enough money from the people to operate government, and so we shouldn’t be running surpluses like that.”

During a February discussion with the Mountain States Policy Center, a right-leaning think tank, Gianforte said he hoped to get the state to a 4.7% flat income tax rate. A 2029 biennium report from the Legislative Fiscal Division projects that move would decrease individual income tax collections by an estimated $130 million per year by fiscal year 2029.

Gov. Greg Gianforte speaks at St. Matthew’s Catholic School in Kalispell on May 20, 2026. Hunter D’Antuono | Flathead Beacon

In Montana, income tax makes up the lion’s share of the state’s general fund, accounting for 66% of general fund revenues in fiscal year 2025, per a recent historical analysis from the Legislative Fiscal Division. Those dollars fund schools up to the Base Amount for School Equity, state supported public health programs, and salaries and pensions for state employees, among other items. In recent years, the state’s general fund has been flush with cash, in part thanks to higher-than-anticipated income tax collections.

Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, a seasoned legislator who serves on the Revenue Interim Committee, said several factors have contributed to the state’s revenue growth. In his estimation, those include high in-migration since the COVID days, more wealth in the state with people working remotely and making higher salaries, and more federal dollars going into people’s pockets thanks to pandemic-era policies.

Even so, Fern and most of his fellow Democratic caucus members have long been skeptical of the flat income tax idea. He cautioned that creating and maintaining a tax structure that keeps Montana’s general fund coffers at a sustainable level is important. Fern added he’s an advocate for maintaining the state’s current income tax levels for another two years to gain a better understanding of what Montana’s growth will look like moving forward — particularly as he anticipates changes coming down the pike.

“Beyond two years, do we have the capacity to deal with what we’re doing?” Fern said. “Will that growth rate of revenue, more income, more people moving here — will that continue? And you know, my reaction is, it will be neutered a bit, getting back to a more normal rate of growth.”

He also pointed to the 2029 biennium outlook, which identified provisions of 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that that could lower the amount of income tax the state collects. And, depending on the recommendations of the School Funding Interim Commission, which Fern sits on, he said the state could be looking at a different way of bankrolling school districts, which he anticipates could have a higher price tag on it than what has been status quo.

“It’s much easier to cut taxes than increase taxes,” Fern said.

For Gov. Gianforte, the same thing Fern identified as a holdup when it comes to a flat income tax rate serves as a go sign.

“The real advantage of a flat tax is once you get there, it’s very hard for future legislatures to raise it, because they’ve got to raise the tax on everybody, right?” the governor said at the Mountain States Policy Center discussion in February. “So, the penalty is higher.”

[email protected]

Source link