Gianforte Unveils Pro-Jobs Budget: Path to Security, Prosperity
Gov. Greg Gianforte last week unveiled his “Path to Security and Prosperity,” a historic pro-jobs, pro-family, pro-business budget for the State of Montana for the next biennium.
Gianforte’s “Path to Security and Prosperity” cuts income taxes, reduces property taxes for primary homeowners, and invests in public safety, education, and Montana’s future. “The strong foundation of a prosperous society is made up of three pillars: economic freedom, safe communities, and strong families who have access to opportunity,” Gianforte said. “Our Path to Security and Prosperity helps hardworking Montanans keep more of what they earn, backs the blue, invests in education, and builds a stronger future for Montana. With what we’ve been able to achieve together, Montana can and should be a model for the nation.”
The governor’s budget proposal includes the largest income tax cut in state history, reducing the income tax rate most Montanans pay from 5.9 to 4.9 percent. The proposal also substantially boosts the earned income tax credit to benefit lower- and middle-income Montanans. Taken together, those two proposals provide Montanans with $850 million in permanent income tax relief.
The Path to Security and Prosperity also adopts a recommendation from the governor’s diverse, bipartisan Property Tax Task Force to reduce property taxes for Montana homeowners for their primary residence and for Montana small businesses. The homestead rate tax cut will lower property taxes for Montana homeowners by 15 percent and for small businesses by 18 percent. The proposal is projected to directly reduce property taxes for more than 215,000 primary residences and more than 32,000 small businesses, as well as provide indirect relief to over 130,000 renters.
In addition to cutting taxes, the Path to Security and Prosperity spurs job creation, boosts education, and grows opportunity for Montanans so the American dream can come alive for more Montanans.
The governor’s budget expands the business equipment tax exemption from $1 million to $3 million, eliminating the business equipment tax burden for more than 700 small businesses, farms, and ranches. This increase comes on the heels of the governor’s first-term investments that eliminated over 5,000 small businesses, farms, and ranches from the business equipment tax payroll.
Knowing that safe communities are part of the foundation to secure Montana’s future, the governor’s budget proposes increasing the pay of Montana Highway Patrol troopers by $7 million and invests in giving them what they need to do their jobs by more than $1 million.
“At the foundation of a safer, stronger future is our commitment to making public safety a top priority. Working with the Attorney General, we propose increasing pay for the men and women of Montana’s Highway Patrol and giving them the tools they need to get the job done,” Gov. Gianforte said.
To keep violent criminals off the street, the governor’s budget includes a historic $150 million investment to expand the state prison and $250 million in one-time-only funding to develop and execute a long-term plan to keep communities safe.
Continuing his commitment to addressing the drug crisis affecting Montana families, the governor also proposes $8 million in additional resources for communities to address the opioid epidemic and $2 million for drug treatment courts. The governor added, “While we back the blue, we must also make a commitment to the people of Montana that we will fix our corrections system and improve public safety. Backing the blue requires making investments to close any revolving doors for criminals.”
The Path to Security and Prosperity also protects record funding in public education, builds on the success of the governor’s TEACH Act by raising teacher pay, expands educational opportunities, and provides a financial incentive for schools to adopt “cell phone-free” policies to reduce classroom distractions and improve the mental health of students.
To increase teacher pay, the Path to Security and Prosperity invests more than $100 million over the biennium to raise the amount teachers earn, with a focus on educators who are starting their careers in the classroom. The proposed budget also doubles the cap of the Big Sky Scholarship to ensure students have access to the best education possible. It also includes $1 million in one-timeonly funding to create incentives for school districts to adopt “cell phone-free” school policies.
Further, to address the need for school repairs, the governor proposed adding $81 million to the School Facilities Trust to help local school districts with deferred maintenance to fill the fund.
The Path to Security and Prosperity also plans for Montana’s future by proposing to spend $1 million to speed up the construction of affordable, attainable housing, $10 million to repair 500 bridges over the next five years, $100 million for local disaster relief, and $300 million in one-time-only funding to protect state pensions and taxpayers from downturns in the economy.
“Our budget holds the line on spending — keeping spending growth well below inflation and has a strong ending fund balance to protect against economic and financial uncertainty, all while avoiding cuts to essential services.”
Before concluding the press conference, the governor praised previous collaboration with legislators to enact conservative budgets and highlighted looking forward to working with them in 2025 to continue to bring the American dream into greater reach for all Montanans.
