Guest Editorial: There is no 'simple' solution to property taxes

In recent opinion pieces, Evan Barrett, a longtime Democratic consultant, and Mike Jopek, a former Democratic legislator, have repeatedly provided their “simple solution” to our high property taxes in Montana: just lower the residential property tax rate to 0.76%.

If it truly was that simple, both Democrat and Republican legislators would have already done it. The reason it hasn’t happened is because it wouldn’t work like Barrett, Jopek, and others claim.

Property tax rates don’t work like income taxes or sales taxes. If you have a 25% income tax rate and you make an additional $10,000 of inco...