Jan Lombardi

Do you own a home and are wondering what it’s worth? You can easily look up your address on Zillow and see that the assessed value is rising quickly, resulting in higher property taxes.

Too many Montana families can no longer afford the $249 million annual property tax increase that Republican Governor Gianforte and his party are pushing through in the legislature. Yet after months of analysis by the Governor’s Property Tax Task Force, they recommended a complicated process that will raise our taxes again!

Why didn’t they take into account the new taxes they already took from us and refund our money? Now they want to charge us even more taxes for the next two years. More bad news. Zillow gives the current value of your home, unlike the government’s real estate appraisal system, which is always two years behind.

When will this end? If Governor Gianforte does not take the simple solution of cutting property taxes, as other governors have done, Montanans will continue to pay more and lose their homes while the wealthy profit.

Don’t be fooled by Governor Gianforte’s refund and the numerous marketing materials reminding you to apply to receive a small portion of your property tax refund.

The truth is that your home value is rapidly increasing. What can you do? Vote for the candidates who will really lower your taxes, or buckle up because under the current leadership, you’re going to pay a lot more in property taxes in the future.