Gianforte swings through Columbia Falls, says he opposes sales tax, public lands sell-off
Ivan Jaquette, left, talks with Greg Gianforte at Laurie’s Deli in Columbia Falls Friday morning. The GOP gubernatorial candidate made a stop in the city on a 42-community tour before the election.
Making a swing through 42 communities before election day, Greg Gianforte stopped in Columbia Falls Friday morning. The Republican challenger for governor said he opposes a sales tax.
“I am opposed to a sales tax,” Gianforte reiterated to people gathered at Laurie’s Deli.
He said the main thrust of his campaign is to create high-paying jobs in Montana.
He said Montana’s tax code needs to be simplified and the income tax should be reduced. He claimed a person with an income of $17,400 in the state is still paying the highest tax rate.
“I want to bring tax rates down for everyone,” he said.
To offset that, he plans on reducing state government spending and reduce the number of regulations on small businesses. He also claimed he wanted to keep public lands public.
“We’re not going to sell public lands,” he said. “We’re not going to cut off access.”
Locally, he said he wanted to be an advocate for better timber management on National Forest Lands. He noted that when Weyerhaeuser announced it was closing two mills in Columbia Falls, the company cited the lack of timber supply as one of the reasons for the closures.
“The governor has to be an advocate for natural resource development,” he said.
He gave an analogy.
“We’re like a man dying of thirst on a raft in the middle of a lake,” he said.
On gun control, he said he did not favor background checks at gun shows.
He said Donald Trump was the better choice for president and a vote for Hillary Clinton was “essentially a third term of Barack Obama.”
He said he did not support allowing Syrian refugees to settle in the state.
“Montana shouldn’t have anything to do with it,” he said.
He did make one promise.
“As of Tuesday, all the ads will be off the air,” he said.
That was a joke after a wire story came out Friday morning that he had aired more ads than any other candidate in the nation seeking a statewide election.
Gianforte has aired more than 34,000 ads since the campaign started.