Greg Ginaforte understood what Raph Graybill and I did not: a wealthy guy like him could win in a highly polarized political cycle by simply magnifying the most divisive MAGA approaches and policies.
One of the problems is that the high tax burden is not evenly distributed around the state. Gallatin & Flathead counties for example have had high growth & therefore high demand for properties. This is not the case in more rural areas. And where are most of the MT MOC from? Rural counties - so it’s easy for them to keep their ag exemptions and high property tax assessment rates going. Doesn’t hurt them or the voters in their districts one bit.
And I’m relatively sure they like sticking it to those of us who are in the high cost areas of the state. They are of the opinion that rich out of staters are in the area that I own property in. I can assure you that neither I or the majority of my clients are the wealthy out of staters they portray us to be (well with the exception of GG, Zinke, Sheehy, Downey, etc). Many of us are native born Montanans and many living on fixed incomes are being priced out of the properties we grew up on & love. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sell out & move to Great Falls or Lewistown (for example)
So what are we to do. It’s our ag slanted property tax system. And a lower tax rate apparently is too much to ask for!
Years ago there was a successful national campaign to mail styrofoam to the MacDonald's headquarters in protest of their excessive use of stryofoam. They were overwhelmed with the receipt of styrofoam ultimately resulting in reduction of it's use. Maybe we should start a similar campaign and mail it to the governor's home address.
Your political MAGA stunt with the styrofoam cup was disgusting and dishonorable. This was a bipartisan bill for the health of our children and you made a mockery of it.
Do you know what government overreach is? It’s consistently picking on transgender people and limiting their rights and trying to limit reproductive health of women. You proclaim to be a Christian but clearly do not follow Jesus.
Jesus would never ever endanger lives of anyone! He calls us to help the disadvantaged and marginalized not legislate against them.
When you say Montanans wanted for, and Gianforte wanted from, that's pretty much the Rep/con agenda. The question, of course, is why the Montana legislature doesn't over-ride him, tell him to go fuck himself, or whatever is the right presentation. Marler, Zolnikov, and their more than 60 person juggernaut couldn't do it, so maybe you, and all of us, are just stuck right now. But Montana, as is true with other parts of the country last year, drifted right (which is why you no longer have Tester in the Senate), so maybe you just have housecleaning to do next year in November, if we make it that far.
"Strange culture war" is its own book at this point. Toxic? Nonsensical? And without adaptive meaning.
Gianforte and lobbyists can't kill a bill. Inadequate legislative support is what killed the bill.
I must tell you I particularly noted your "I don't like paying taxes any more than anyone else [does]" sentence. I want to be on record here. I love paying taxes. I choose to live in this country, and in my state, and it's my responsibility and my honor to support them. I stopped taking tax deductions in 2013, except for expenses incurred to run my business, and donations I made to the municipality where I live (and pay taxes). I consider the latter to be an extra and voluntary tax, so I deduct it. My passions -- arts organizations, gun control, feeding the poor, etc -- are my choice and my responsibility, and I don't ask my countrymen to have to join me. I would also, of course, very much appreciate it if they didn't ask me to help them pay for their passions, with which I sometimes virulently disagree.
The issue about Gianforte is not what he does or doesn't know. He doesn't care. He's a Rep/con, and his agenda is hoovering up, as the British say, as much of other people's money as he can, for himself and his pals. If he has any interest in or connection to Mar-a-Lago, it's that. Reducing rent and tax burdens on people who are struggling reduces income for those who are not. And that, he will not do.
You are completely right about the concept of people who don't give a damn, and this disease is not limited to Gianforte, or Donnie. The Montana legislature would over-ride him if THEY gave a damn. His tax breaks are not "self-engineered." He had help and critical backing.
I'm sorry for your suffering, and for all of ours, and I can only suspect that the voters are wide awake and not susceptible to idiotic fairy tales this time. If we can only survive until November of next year, we can make essential changes.
Wealth and drama has come to be a substitution for intelligent conversation about real topics that matter. It seems there is no conversation because their screen of drama and wealth negates this possibility. Our state is run by a group of people who have their agenda in the forefront and nobody is going to change their mind. It sure creates for me moments of despair.
One of the problems is that the high tax burden is not evenly distributed around the state. Gallatin & Flathead counties for example have had high growth & therefore high demand for properties. This is not the case in more rural areas. And where are most of the MT MOC from? Rural counties - so it’s easy for them to keep their ag exemptions and high property tax assessment rates going. Doesn’t hurt them or the voters in their districts one bit.
And I’m relatively sure they like sticking it to those of us who are in the high cost areas of the state. They are of the opinion that rich out of staters are in the area that I own property in. I can assure you that neither I or the majority of my clients are the wealthy out of staters they portray us to be (well with the exception of GG, Zinke, Sheehy, Downey, etc). Many of us are native born Montanans and many living on fixed incomes are being priced out of the properties we grew up on & love. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sell out & move to Great Falls or Lewistown (for example)
So what are we to do. It’s our ag slanted property tax system. And a lower tax rate apparently is too much to ask for!
https://open.substack.com/pub/morfmorford/p/remember-the-gospel-story-of-the?r=9hujo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Years ago there was a successful national campaign to mail styrofoam to the MacDonald's headquarters in protest of their excessive use of stryofoam. They were overwhelmed with the receipt of styrofoam ultimately resulting in reduction of it's use. Maybe we should start a similar campaign and mail it to the governor's home address.
Dear Mr. Gianforte,
Your political MAGA stunt with the styrofoam cup was disgusting and dishonorable. This was a bipartisan bill for the health of our children and you made a mockery of it.
Do you know what government overreach is? It’s consistently picking on transgender people and limiting their rights and trying to limit reproductive health of women. You proclaim to be a Christian but clearly do not follow Jesus.
Jesus would never ever endanger lives of anyone! He calls us to help the disadvantaged and marginalized not legislate against them.
I am truly disheartened.
Ryan, YUCK!!
When you say Montanans wanted for, and Gianforte wanted from, that's pretty much the Rep/con agenda. The question, of course, is why the Montana legislature doesn't over-ride him, tell him to go fuck himself, or whatever is the right presentation. Marler, Zolnikov, and their more than 60 person juggernaut couldn't do it, so maybe you, and all of us, are just stuck right now. But Montana, as is true with other parts of the country last year, drifted right (which is why you no longer have Tester in the Senate), so maybe you just have housecleaning to do next year in November, if we make it that far.
"Strange culture war" is its own book at this point. Toxic? Nonsensical? And without adaptive meaning.
Gianforte and lobbyists can't kill a bill. Inadequate legislative support is what killed the bill.
I must tell you I particularly noted your "I don't like paying taxes any more than anyone else [does]" sentence. I want to be on record here. I love paying taxes. I choose to live in this country, and in my state, and it's my responsibility and my honor to support them. I stopped taking tax deductions in 2013, except for expenses incurred to run my business, and donations I made to the municipality where I live (and pay taxes). I consider the latter to be an extra and voluntary tax, so I deduct it. My passions -- arts organizations, gun control, feeding the poor, etc -- are my choice and my responsibility, and I don't ask my countrymen to have to join me. I would also, of course, very much appreciate it if they didn't ask me to help them pay for their passions, with which I sometimes virulently disagree.
The issue about Gianforte is not what he does or doesn't know. He doesn't care. He's a Rep/con, and his agenda is hoovering up, as the British say, as much of other people's money as he can, for himself and his pals. If he has any interest in or connection to Mar-a-Lago, it's that. Reducing rent and tax burdens on people who are struggling reduces income for those who are not. And that, he will not do.
You are completely right about the concept of people who don't give a damn, and this disease is not limited to Gianforte, or Donnie. The Montana legislature would over-ride him if THEY gave a damn. His tax breaks are not "self-engineered." He had help and critical backing.
I'm sorry for your suffering, and for all of ours, and I can only suspect that the voters are wide awake and not susceptible to idiotic fairy tales this time. If we can only survive until November of next year, we can make essential changes.
Wealth and drama has come to be a substitution for intelligent conversation about real topics that matter. It seems there is no conversation because their screen of drama and wealth negates this possibility. Our state is run by a group of people who have their agenda in the forefront and nobody is going to change their mind. It sure creates for me moments of despair.