The HJ 35 Tax Study Committee, a subcommittee of the Revenue Interim Committee, will meet January 13 as part of Legislative Week activities. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Room 137 of the Capitol building. At the November meeting, the HJ 35 Committee focused the study of state and local taxation on existing revenue sources including the property tax, the individual and corporate income taxes, and natural resource taxes, and will also consider other revenue sources such as a consumption tax.

The January meeting will focus on the property tax. There are three main parts of the meeting: property tax basics, evaluating the property tax, and considering revisions to the property tax. The property tax basics agenda items are intended to provide an overview of important details about the property tax such as how taxes are calculated, classes of property, assessment methodology, recent property tax history, reappraisal, the role of property tax in school funding, and common legal issues associated with the property tax.

The committee will then receive presentations requested by committee members on topics including mill rates by city and county, property taxes paid by class, residential property taxes in cities and counties, and property tax abatements. The afternoon agenda will also include information on property tax limits, property tax relief, and circuit breakers throughout the country and summaries of past property tax legislation of interest to committee members. There will be opportunities for public comment throughout the meeting.

The meeting will be live streamed at http://leg.mt.gov and will be broadcast on the Montana Public Affairs Network (MPAN.) For more information about the meeting, including a full agenda, visit the committee’s website or contact Megan Moore, committee staff.

Committee Website:  https://www.leg.mt.gov/committees/interim/2019rvic/
Committee Staff: Megan Moore, memoore@mt.gov or 406-444-4496

The Legislative News.