Tax rebate step in right direction

A $100 million of state dollars, derived from oil and gas production and used for homeowner property tax relief, is great news for Montanans. This is a good step in the right direction after a decade and a half of neglecting homeowners.

For years now, out-of-state multinational oil corporations have gouged Montanans when we fill up at the pumps. Our state surplus is currently exceeding expectations from oil and gas production. It's high time we use state budget surpluses to help Montana property taxpayers.

I stand ready to work with Gov. Brian Schweitzer to come up with solutions which make it a little easier and better for Montana taxpayers, while protecting local services, like schools, fire and police. We Montanans are an independent bunch of folks, but one thing is for sure — we believe in the education of our kids and the long term safety of our neighborhoods.

Schweitzer proposes a rebate check of $400 per Montana homeowner. The rebate is for Montanans only and targets primary residents. This is a great one-time step to take while we work toward rectifying some of the inequities in the current system.

While some advocate relief for the wealthy, this approach redistributes oil and gas dollar surpluses to all Montanans equally. It acknowledges that workers and the wealthy are all created equal.

If you are a Montanan, file income taxes and own a home, you deserve relief on your property taxes. January 2007 is the right time for us as a state to focus on solutions for Montana homeowners.

We need to make our property tax system fairer and the lives of Montanans a little bit better. I will work toward this end in the next session.

While there appears to be more surplus ahead, we also have obligations to our kids, retirees and homeowners. We lowered taxes in the last session, and we'll continue to work in the best interest of Montanans in 2007.

In 2005, we eliminated the business equipment tax on some 13,000 of Montana's small businesses. We placed historic state dollars into local schools, which allowed local property taxes to lower.

It's a bit ironic that the proposal to cap state spending would not allow this type of direct property tax rebate to Montana homeowners. Our constitution guarantees that we spend no more then what's coming in, but proponents of this spending cap want surplus dollars returned back to out-of-state corporations at the expense of our kids, students, retirees and homeowners. That's just plain silly.

During the last decade and a half we have seen our property taxes increase drastically. Putting $100 million back into the pockets of Montanans is a fantastic step in the right direction. It's a good time to focus on some tax relief for homeowners and give Montanans a square deal.

Mike Jopek is a farmer and represents the Whitefish area in the Montana Legislature.