Senate Bill 331, like Montana’s existing resort tax, would have allowed larger municipalities to ask their voters whether to impose a sales tax on so-called luxury goods and services purchased by tourists and visitors. This bill had a twist in that it would sunset after the identified infrastructure project was completed.
The Senate Taxation Committee today tabled a local option sales tax measure that would have provided some property tax relief and funding for local infrastructure projects.
Still, Senator Brian Hoven, R-Great Falls, called it a tax shift. “Urban area is going to pass the tax and the tax is going to be born by the rural people that come to town and it’s the same situation we’ve got other people paying for benefits where the people that are voting for the tax, and I don’t support that.”
It is a dilemma for people who travel into town for work or shopping, said Senator Dick Barrett, D-Missoula. But he says that on the other hand, “it is the one way that we have of taxing people who are taking advantage of the city services for one thing and who also benefit from the infrastructure that is provided in these projects.”
According to SB 331, “Montana faces more than $27 billion in critical infrastructure investment needs,” and that those needs are funded through the cities, towns, and counties in Montana bear the responsibility for the “construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of most drinking water systems, wastewater treatment facilities, sewer systems, streets, roads, and bridges.”
SB 331 was defeated on a 5-7 committee vote and then tabled.
A similar bill, HB 577, was tabled in the House Taxation Committee.
