Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!
Here are some of the topics that recently caught my attention:
- Show Me the Money
- TikTok in Montana
- State Senate Bill 345
- Transmittal Day
SHOW ME THE MONEY:
I like free stuff. Maybe it’s not free when it comes to tax rebates, but it sure feels free.
The Montana Free Press (MTFP) is reporting that bills have made it to Governor Greg Gianforte’s desk and when he signs the bills into law, they would tee up the state to issue income tax rebates of up to $1,250 per taxpayer and property tax rebates of up to $1,000 per homeowner.
According to the MTFP here are the bills that will give many Montanans some serious coin in their pockets:
- House Bill 222 would put $284 million toward property tax rebate checks of as much as $1,000 for Montana homeowners — $500 for taxes paid in each of 2022 and 2023. The Montana Department of Revenue estimates about 312,000 households would be eligible.
- House Bill 192 would spend $480 million on income tax rebates of up to $1,250 per taxpayer, or $2,500 for spouses who file taxes jointly. The revenue department estimates the rebates would be available to an estimated 460,000 taxpayers who were full-time Montana residents in 2020 and 2021.
I’m not sure if Montanans who would be eligible for the above money would get a check or electronic deposit or if it would be applied to future debt. Readers?
TIKTOK IN MONTANA:
Often the Montana Legislators stick their noses into things that they have no idea about and/or have little authority to control. State Senate Bill 419, sponsored by State Sen. Shelley Vance (R-Belgrade), is one of those things.
State Senate Bill 419’s short title is “Ban TikTok in Montana.”
I use TikTok almost every day. I am not worried about the Chinese spying on me as some people claim. Almost every app we have on our phones collects data about us. It’s been this way for years.
If government officials want to keep TikTok off government-owned phones, I am fine with that, but leave me alone. I am a private citizen. Get off my lawn.
I hope the full state senate tells State Senator Vance to stick her bill where the sun doesn’t shine. There are many more important things that these clowns in Helena should be working on.
STATE SENATE BILL 345:
In case you missed this bill in the Montana Legislature, here is the title of State Senate Bill 345:
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT REVISING LAWS RELATED TO SEXUAL OFFENDERS; REDEFINING DEVIATE SEXUAL RELATIONS TO INCLUDE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH DEAD HUMAN BODIES; PROHIBITING DEVIATE SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH DEAD HUMAN BODIES;
I did not realize that necrophilia was an issue in Montana. I figured bestiality was more of an issue…
The bill passed the second reading in the state senate 49-1. Read more about the bill HERE and see who the one “No” vote was.
TRANSMITTAL DAY:
Friday (March 3) is “Transmittal Day” in the Montana Legislature. For those of you who are new to the happenings at the Montana Legislature, this is the day when members must have transmitted or obtained a sexually transmitted disease from another member of the legislature.
I am kidding.
Basically, it means bills must pass one chamber (House or Senate) to be considered by the other chamber or the bill could be dead.
The legislators normally take a few days off so they can come home and tell their constituents how hard they are working and how everyone will get sprinkles with their next bowl of ice cream.
The Montana Free Press talks about “Transmittal Day” HERE.
The Western Word 
Also, about the surplus. Put the money in the bank. With this current group in charge, we will need it later. Competent investing will do more to relieve our tax burden than giving money to many who do not need it, and, those who do won’t get it. Any guesses who will bear the burden of a future tax increase?
well, we certainly don’t agree about Tik Tok. Are you persuadable? A CCP data miner should bear close scrutiny. Are there U.S.A. websites that are banned or very tightly content-regulated? The commie’s system is not like ours. Their data mining is more like surveillance. Don’t want it don’t need it. we need to preserve our system to disagree. Did Hong Kong get your attention?
I have studied the TikTok issue for quite awhile and I don’t see anything that will change my mind. I don’t think it should be banned.
There are several apps that have been banned over the years.
If the Chinese are watching what I check out on TikTok, they are probably pretty bored. Thanks, JmB
the best argument against banning tiktok is opposing censorship. However, our good friends in China have no problem doing that. I do think it remains to be seen what tiktok amounts to.
Ah … Transmittal Day: https://mooreonmontana.com/2023/03/02/midsession-misery/
IMO many people in Great Falls should not be expecting a whole lot from that income tax rebate, particularly people with a big chunk of their yearly income shielded from state taxation, like retired people drawing Social Security. If you paid $0 in state income tax for 2021 you get $0, or if you paid only $450 state income tax that’s the most you could get.
The law reads as follows:
“a one-time income tax rebate in an amount equal to the lesser of:
(a) the qualified taxpayer’s 2021 individual income tax liability as properly reported on line 20 of the 2021 Montana individual income tax return; or
(b) an amount based on the taxpayer’s 2021 filing status, equal to:
– (i) for a single taxpayer, A HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD, or a married taxpayer filing a separate return, $1,250; or
– (ii) for a married couple filing a joint return, $2,500.
(2) The department may not issue a rebate pursuant to this section that exceeds the taxpayer’s individual income tax liability as properly reported on line 20 of the 2021 Montana individual income tax return.”
There’s another bill progressing that’s worth notice: SB 323.
This is a “proactive urban planning” bill sponsored by Great Falls’ own Jeremy Trebas that would impose another Republican one-size-fits-all urban planning solution from Helena on all Montana cities, this time as far as what’s allowed on a home lot in the city. If a lot is currently zoned for a single family home, poof! all of a sudden it would be zoned for up to a fourplex. City can’t impose any extra zoning requirements for that fourplex, either.
This means your neighbor or more likely some developer could plop in a fourplex right next to you and there’s nothing you or the city could do to stop it. No consideration for the existing character and makeup of the neighborhood, no consideration for lot size or available parking, no consideration for the capacity of the water and sewer infrastructure, no consideration for city planning, no nuthin except consideration for developer profits.
It probably comes up for a third reading in the Senate today, Thursday. If you don’t like the idea of Helena imposing a crowded Chicago-style neighborhood of three and four flats on your city and neighborhood with absolutely no input from you or power to do anything about it, better contact your senator right now.
https://apps.montanafreepress.org/capitol-tracker-2023/bills/sb-323/
I saw Trebas talking about it on the news. My first thought was “he doesn’t know shit about urban planning or zoning.” Like a lot of the clowns in Helena, he’s in over his head.
Thanks for the heads-up! -JmB
The bill passed the senate with pretty strong support on both R and D sides of the aisle, so either none of the senators really care if a fourplex or three goes up in any existing neighborhoods, or there’s some safeguards I don’t see in that bill.
One of the big problems with our legislature is there’s so many carpetbaggers who don’t live in the district or close to the people they supposedly represent that imposing their one-size-fits-all dictates won’t ever affect them personally.