As lawmakers across the country search for solutions to address rising property tax burdens, Montana’s Frontier Institute has launched a campaign that addresses the real driver of higher taxes: government spending.
The Frontier Institute’s new Taxpayer Protection Now campaign calls for taxpayer protections that would cap the growth of state, school, and local government budgets while requiring any revenue collected above those limits to be automatically returned to taxpayers.
To properly address rising tax burdens, it’s essential to understand the underlying spending habits that create them in the first place. Property taxes are driven largely by local government spending. Therefore, a strict spending cap is the backbone of the most successful property tax limitation regimes we’ve seen in other states.
Government should not be allowed to grow indefinitely simply because it can collect more revenue. Montana families have to live within their budgets, prioritize expenses, and make difficult decisions when costs rise. State and local governments should be expected to do the same.
The campaign proposes capping budget growth while automatically returning excess collections to taxpayers rather than allowing politicians to treat unexpected revenue windfalls as an excuse to permanently expand government.
According to the Frontier Institute, over $6.85 billion beyond what inflation-paced growth would have required was collected by Montana state and local governments over the last decade. This comes largely as a result of a lack of restrictions on the growth of government, at all levels.
The campaign also comes at an important moment for Montana. After years of successful income tax reform under Governor Greg Gianforte and the Republican legislature, meaningful protections on the growth of government will only add to Montana’s reputation as a state that is both open for business and actively working to see its citizens thrive.
States like Colorado have demonstrated that taxpayer protections can serve as an effective guardrail against unchecked government expansion. Despite being a different state, the underlying principle remains the same: government spending should grow at a sustainable pace, and taxpayers, not politicians, should benefit when revenues exceed what is needed.
The Frontier Institute’s campaign reflects that commonsense philosophy.
Taxpayers deserve confidence that government will spend responsibly, not simply spend whatever it can collect. By placing meaningful limits on budget growth and ensuring overcollections are automatically returned to the people who earned the money in the first place, Montana can continue building on its reputation as a leader in pro-growth, taxpayer-friendly reform.
