by Ken Toole | Aug 18, 2026 | Elections, Taxes
County Commissioner Joe Briggs is making the rounds with a menu of potential cuts aimed at reducing local property taxes. Briggs recently distributed the information shown in the graphics above and below at a local Pachyderm Club meeting.
Most of us would probably like to see our property taxes reduced. Most of us also want to retain at least some of the services Briggs has identified as potential cuts. The truth is that local governments have been put between a rock and a hard place by restrictions imposed by the legislature. Rigid limits on local-government funding have forced cuts to many local services—regardless of how necessary or popular those services are in the community.
On top of that, local business-development and recruitment efforts have turned into a legalized Ponzi scheme, providing tax breaks and deferrals to large corporations that often ignore the needs of the communities where they operate. Calumet is a master of this game. (See our previous post: https://wtf406.com/2025/05/how-large-industrial-corporations-like-calumet-are-screwing-you/ )
Janicki Industries is another recent example. The Electric reports that, under state law, Janicki’s property will be taxed at 50 percent of its taxable value for the first five years. Each year thereafter, the percentage will increase by equal increments until the property reaches its full taxable value in the tenth year.
Janicki also wants phased approval, allowing each phase to receive a separate tax-abatement period. Local county commissioners chose to give Janicki the minimum tax abatement allowed under state law: 80 percent. You can thank local legislator Steve Fitzpatrick for this particular gift to large corporations. See our post on Fitzpatrick’s legislation: (https://wtf406.com/2025/04/calumets-got-lawyers-and-politicians/ )
This situation is a direct result of Republican trickle-down economic theory. The idea is that reducing taxes frees up capital for businesses to expand. That expansion creates economic activity, which increases the tax base and helps pay for public services and amenities.
It sounds nice, but reality doesn’t work that way. Businesses have stronger incentives to increase returns for investors. They do that by increasing profit margins—often through higher prices, cutting expenses, such as employee benefits and wages, and shifting costs onto others in the community by failing to clean up their messes. They also use the political process to advance all of those goals.
And that leaves us with Joe’s chart of the budget and list of possible cuts.
In a place where the majority of officials are Republicans who believe the trickle down mythology, public services take a back seat to attracting big businesses. So Joe Brigg’s Wheel of Fortune offers nothing but cuts to services which erode the quality of life in Great Falls. But in fairness to Joe, there is not much he can do about it because the legislation passed by Steve Fitzpatrick and other corporate shills in the legislature tie his hands with state law.
by Guest Cartoonist | Jul 23, 2026 | Governor, Money, Republicans, Taxes
by Guest Writer | May 26, 2026 | Guest Articles, Taxes
By Guest Writer Representative Jane Weber
There is a dangerous petition circling Montana. When approached, DO NOT SIGN CI-134. Like the Sirens calling in Ulysses with their beautiful voices, paid signature gatherers are calling on voters to sign a petition that could be the death knell for city and county governments. The lure of stabilizing property taxes is sweet bait to an unsuspecting fish, but don’t bite the hook. Why? Because when something sounds simple, it usually is hiding the truth. And the truth is this . . .
CI-134 creates a fixed property tax formula that decimates local government funding. If you like smooth roads, police protection, rapid response to your house on fire, clean drinking water, libraries, restaurant and swimming pool safety inspections, and your local fairgrounds, kiss it all goodbye. This initiative unravels city and county funding by limiting property tax growth to 2% per parcel per year for all taxing categories – residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and more. It also sets the baseline to the lesser of the property taxes paid in 2024 or 2025 or 2026.
CI-134 would disproportionately benefit wealthy out-of-staters. The biggest second homes would get some of the biggest tax cuts while the rest of us are left with the bag.
CI-134 deceptively sounds favorable because it states voted levies are exempted from the 2% cap. Don’t be fooled. In reality, CI-134 changes how voters choose local levies by requiring a majority vote of the qualified electorate. That’s the total number of qualified voters, NOT a majority of those who took the interest in voting. It would be easy-peasy to kill a local levy by simply encouraging people not to vote.
Finally, CI-134 alters our Montana Constitution, something difficult to unravel once set into play. We cherish our Constitution, don’t let the majority lock in bad policy.
CI-134 is not right for Montana. When asked to sign, Just DON’T Do IT.
by Helena Lovick | Feb 13, 2026 | Contamination, Corporations, Protests, Taxes, Taxpayers
Photo credit David Saslav
Great Falls, MT
A couple of hardy protesters have been protesting outside of the Calumet Montana Refinery every first and third Monday at 7:30 AM. Why are they doing that?
Fair Taxes
We’ve talked before about how Calumet and politicians in Calumet’s pocket are screwing you. Let’s talk about what happened recently with Calumet’s tax protest.
Every year, Calumet pays all of their required taxes into an escrow account because they concurrently protest the tax valuation. The money is then held in that escrow account and not released for use until the tax protest is settled. Calumet’s goal is to make maximum profits by minimizing the amount of tax they are required to pay. Historically, Calumet “wins” in their tax protest and the actual amount of tax they have to pay is dramatically reduced. Meaning they claw back a portion of the amount sitting in that escrow account.
According to the Electric, Calumet will get $1.4 million tax dollars back after they reached a settlement on their tax protest for tax years 2022 to 2024. Another example of how Calumet protests their taxes was a settlement in 2025. As reported in the Electric, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Montana Renewables (the biofuel side of Calumet) settled to increase the tax exempt portion of the refinery and Cascade County will have to pay back the overcharges since the tax exempt adjustment was backdated a few years.
While it may be legal to protest taxes, it hurts our community. It makes it impossible for our schools and city and county governments to budget not knowing how much of the taxes they will ultimately receive. Every dollar Calumet gets out of paying, has to be made up by the rest of the tax payers.
Most taxpayers pay their taxes on time and without protest. Then those same taxpayers give even more back to their community, by contributing to good causes like school PTAs, food banks, and more. Meanwhile, we continue to supply Calumet with roads, bridges, rail access, water, and more. We’re not expecting Calumet to do more than we do ourselves. We’re asking them to be good neighbors and give back to a community that gives so much to them.
If not the tax stuff, what else are they protesting?
This might surprise you but…Calumet could be doing more to respect our environment.
In January 2025, Montana Renewables publicly committed to building an on-site water treatment facility. This would prevent their wastewater from being trucked out and dumped elsewhere. Instead, Montana Renewables is still carrying their pollution down the road with no plans in site for the water cleaning facility. That transportation costs money too, and Montana Renewables is looking at alternative ways to dispose of the waste. One potential pathway for this mystery waste water is a proposed permit to allow wastewater to be injected into inactive oil wells such as by Lake Frances in Montana. The actual chemical composition of the wastewater is unknown and the proposed wells may lead to contamination of the Madison Aquifer, a source of drinking water for hundreds of wells in Montana. Yikes!!
One of the protesters, Donna Williams, pointed out “We’re not protesting; we’re rallying behind our refinery to get it right. Most other SAF [Sustainable Aviation Fuel] facilities have wastewater treatment and we want ours to have it, too.”
As reported in the Montana Free Press, “Montana Renewables’ environmental assessment estimates that its pretreatment unit will produce as much as 232,000 gallons of wastewater each day.” That’s a lot of waste. It’s the right thing to do to process that waste to prevent a bigger problem down the road (literally). Let’s not risk polluting our ground water. Montana Renewables can do the right thing and treat their wastewater.
Sounds like good reasons to protest to me!
Upcoming Protests on the corner of 10 St NE and Smelter Ave NE
1st and 3rd Mondays, 7:30-8:00 AM
- February 16th
- March 2nd
- March 16th
by Helena Lovick | May 29, 2025 | Global Warming, Legislature, Taxes, Town Hall Meeting
Great Falls, MT
On Wednesday May 28th, a group of local organizers, Citizens 4 Government Transparency, hosted a Town Hall with the 2025 Cascade County State Legislators. The legislators present were Jane Weber (D-HD-19), Jeremy Trebas (R-SD-10), Wendy McKamey (R-SD-12), Steve Fitzpatrick (R-HD-24), and Eric Tilleman (R-HD-23). Before I start joking around, I’d like to mention that I do give these legislators credit for being willing to hear from the public. It seems so many legislators, in particular Republicans, avoid their constituents and refuse to face any public backlash. So tip of the hat to these legislators for showing up.
Is Global Warming Real?
About 100 people were present in the audience, and a steady stream of questions were presented to the legislators from the crowd. The highlight of the night was when an audience member asked the legislators if they believe in global warming. Jane Weber quickly raised her hand and said, “I do!” Then hilariously the entire Republican contingent asserted that they didn’t. Seriously in 2025. Truly stupid, bury your head in the sand denialism. But we have people out here not willing to vaccinate their dogs against rabies, so the bar is truly in hell with anti-science beliefs.
So check, climate change isn’t real for Republicans. Hope that works out for them since we’re on a warming planet together. At least the crowd scoffed with me!
Let’s Make Income Inequality Worse
A question I raised during the town hall was about HB 337. As reported by the Montana Free Press: “House Bill 337 reduces the state’s top-bracket tax rate down from 5.9% to 5.4% over the next two years. It also raises the maximum threshold for the state’s lower tax bracket, where income is taxed at a lower 4.7% rate, and expands a tax credit available to lower-income working families.” All of the Republicans present voted for it, and the governor signed it into law in April.
I asked, if we have to make cuts to essential services in the future, would the Republican delegation be willing to reverse the income tax cuts they had made? Of course, not a single one of them answered that question, they just talked around it.
Then Representative Steve Fitzpatrick started talking about how making $41,000 a year isn’t rich, so people making that wage should get a tax cut. Cool, cool. Quick question, why are people making $41,000 annually lumped in with people making $250,000+ annually? As you can see in the table below, in Montana, all income from $41,000+ is taxed exactly the same.
Crazy idea, but we could and should focus on distinguishing between people making only $41,000 a year from millionaires so that the tax rates can be cut for the middle and lower class income earners and NOT CUT FOR THE ULTRA RICH. Instead, Gianforte is aiming for a flat tax rate to help the rich get even richer. (A flat income tax applies the same rate to all taxpayers, regardless of their income). How much more can you squeeze out of people below the poverty line, you damn ghouls?!
And on that note, let’s focus on electing representatives that want a fair tax system and legislation to actually help address the inevitable effects of global warming. A girl can dream.
by Ken Toole | May 16, 2025 | Appraisal, Corporations, Taxes
In this post we are focusing on the games large corporations play on property taxes and “appraised values.” We’ve already written about Calumet’s shenanigans in receiving reductions in property taxes with the help and support of local Republican legislator Steve Fitzpatrick and Attorney Kim Beatty, wife of the Director of the Department of Revenue. https://wtf406.com/2025/04/calumets-got-lawyers-and-politicians/
The Goal of All Property Appraisal is to Establish the Market Value Of The Property
The first step in determining how much you will owe in property taxes is determined by the appraised value of your home, land, business, or rental. That value is determined by the Montana Department of Revenue’s appraisal process. The most common way the Department of Revenue determines the value of your home is to identify comparable property in your area that has sold. It is determining the “market value” by looking at sales of similar property.
Three Methods of Appraisal to Determine How Much a Property Is Worth
It is harder to find “comparable sales” for large industrial facilities like Calumet, because they do not sell as often and there are far fewer of them to use as comparisons. There are other ways to establish the market value. In addition to the comparable sales method, there is also the “cost approach” which adds the cost of land, buildings and other improvements and adjusts for condition of facilities to determine the total value. The third method is the “income approach.” In this system the appraiser looks at the income and expenses generated by the property. Calumet and other refineries are generally appraised using the “cost approach.”
Here’s The Game They Play. . .
If a property owner does not agree with the Department of Revenue’s appraisal, there is an appeal process through the Montana Tax Appeals Board. That process allows the Department of Revenue and the appellant (say, Calumet) to negotiate a voluntary settlement. Calumet and other refineries in Montana routinely appeal their valuations and routinely enter settlements with the Department of Revenue which result in lowering their taxes. None of the negotiation meetings are public. And when their taxes are lowered, your taxes go up. For a complete explanation of how this works, follow the link below. https://dailymontanan.com/2023/07/26/big-corporations-get-tax-benefits-while-montana-resident-get-higher-property-taxes/
2012 Showdown In A Legislative Committee
Dan Bucks, the Department of Revenue Director under former Governor Brian Schweitzer, refused to play this game. Instead, he defended the appraised values by the Department of Revenue rather than entering settlements. Not surprisingly, big corporate taxpayers, like refineries, didn’t like Buck’s approach. In September 2012, three refineries attempted to set him up in front of the legislative interim committee on Revenue and Transportation in a failed attempt to apply political pressure.
At the same time, Connacher Oil and Gas Limited, the previous owners of the Great Falls refinery, reached a deal with Calumet to sell the refinery for $120 million. That purchase established the actual market value of the refinery. The Department of Revenue had appraised the value of the refinery at $70 million, and Connacher Oil had appealed that appraisal, arguing it was too high even though it was $50 million below the actual purchase price paid by Calumet. Below is an audio clip of Bucks explaining the issue to the legislative committee.
https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00309/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20120914/-1/20693?startposition=20120914072325&mediaEndTime=20120914072507&viewMode=3&globalStreamId=4
Our Local Elected Officials Need to Represent Us, not Big Corporations
Too often local elected officials pander to these big corporations. Beware of politicians who talk about the economic benefits of “industrial development.” Too often we get taxes shifting more and more to residential and small business and underfunded public services. We need more people in government like Dan Bucks. We won’t get them if we (the public) don’t demand that the tax system is equitable and transparent and companies like Calumet pay their fair share.
