Caribou Gear

Montana 2025 Legislative Session

Seems as though the commission isn’t in support.
But item 10 page 3 line 24 seems to open the door to potentially managing some units to the new season dates?
 

Residents having a say, and powers that be listening.
And where will all the displaced hunters opt to hunt? Yeah, no chance in hell I'm bothering with Eastern Montana this Spring. Come one, come all Montana motto.
 

Interesting article on potential tax reform and impacts to traditional ag, recreational properties, etc.

Bill summaries provided at the bottom.
Yup. If they wanted to lower property taxes for most Montanans, at least to some degree, I have a very simple solution.

Do not allow ag classification for any property owned by a non-resident or an entity with non-resident ownership. Do the Wilkes, Turner, Kroenke, (insert billionaire here), need the benefit of lower property taxes to keep their operation afloat?

If you are a resident, if ag profit is not 51% of your AGI, too bad for you. If you are a resident entity that is taxed as a pass-through entity, the test gets applied at the Shareholder/LLC Member level.

Why does the legislature refuse such easy solutions? I think we know the answer. Yet, for reasons we likely all know, UPOM is adamantly against any such effort to carve the non-resident billionaires out of the ag classification benefits. The governor and many in the legislature are against applying rules to residents who aren't farmers/ranchers, yet qualify under one of the huge loopholes provided in the MT system.

And these same folks protecting the status quo want to make the false claim that conservation easements are taking properties off the tax rolls. Complete BS. As a CPA I could never structure a conservation easement well enough to lower the property taxes to the degree I can get them lowered by using Montana's ag classification.

It's pretty damn easy to make that application and get approval - https://mtrevenue.gov/publications/agricultural-land-classification-application-form-ab-3/

Put me in charge of the property tax legislation and in two days I would increase property tax collections for counties by a huge margin, especially rural counties.
 
Put me in charge of the property tax legislation and in two days I would increase property tax collections for counties by a huge margin, especially rural counties.
Sorry, off topic, but I had someone else's voice in my head when I read this part.

It would be something "no one has ever seen before". It will be "yuge".

Sorry, carry on.
 
https://bills.legmt.gov/#/lc/bill/2/LC1271

Language is out on the mule deer rut hunting bill.
Atten: Montana hunters/voters. Looks like the legislature is in a hurry to get this bill passed that takes away mule deer management from the FWP Commission.

It has already been referred to the FWP Committee as HB 139. Link here - https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1271?open_tab=bill

I would suggest all of you who are interested in keeping the legislature out of wildlife to email the sponsor, who happens to be the Chair of the House FWP Committee, and tell him you do not want the legislature taking these powers away from the agency and the Commission.

His email is - [email protected]

If this is the way he wants to start the session and if he is in such a hurry to cram this stuff through and make his Committee the new version of the FWP Commission, I strongly suggest that hunters let him know their displeasure. Gonna be a long session, so we may as well let him know we're here to oppose bad bills, no matter who introduces them.

Whether you agree/disagree with hunting mule deer in the rut, I suspect you don't want legislators managing wildlife. If so, let him know.
 
Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

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