Clarifying the facts as I see them on 95 mill property tax

Recently, opinion pieces and information sent to legislators regarding the counties’ decision to levy 77.9 mills instead of the state-directed 95 mills has been circulating in both statewide newspapers, and internal legislative correspondence.

It appears that the message being distributed is counties are giving large tax breaks to corporations and out-of -state homeowners while doing little for the average Montanan. While the numbers can be interpreted to support that message, and they — the numbers — are in fact accurate, they only tell part of the story.

Of the 56 Montana counties, 49 have,...