As the next legislative session draws closer, leadership from the Mountain States Policy Center and Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office are trying to gather support for a flat personal income tax for all Montana taxpayers. Advocates promoted the proposal and fielded questions from voters in Helena Thursday.
As the next legislative session draws closer, leadership from the Mountain States Policy Center and Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office are trying to gather support for a flat personal income tax for all Montana taxpayers.
Advocates of the new tax structure promoted the proposal and fielded questions from voters in Helena Thursday.
“Everybody would pay the 4.7 percent, no matter where you live, no matter how much you make, the 4.7 is your income tax rate.”
That’s Chris Cargill, the Policy Center’s CEO. He said a flat rate would help Montana compete with the economies and job markets of other states. This proposal would only change individual income tax.
Derik Reed was one of the 15 people in the crowd that night. He was worried a flat rate isn’t fair.
“A person making $50,000 in Montana, every dollar they make is going to go back right into the economy. Buying food, buying shelter, buying transportation, paying for their kids. Whereas somebody who makes $150,000 has some money that's probably not going right back in the economy immediately. It's going into their retirement accounts, it's going into savings. I like graduated rates for people in that position,” Reed said.
Manish Bhatt is the governor’s tax policy adviser. He said this structure is fair because it gives families more dollars to save.
“It's going to have an impact," Bhatt said. "And we can go back and forth about scale and magnitude and I will concede the fact that bigger numbers are bigger than smaller numbers. I get that. But an impact is an impact.”
Montana currently has two income tax brackets. A single person in 2026 who reported less than $47,500 in income was taxed at 4.7 percent. Higher incomes are taxed at 5.65 percent.
For joint filers, that lower bracket stops at $95,000, and for heads of households, $71,250.
Lawmakers will likely vote on a flat rate proposal when the 2027 Legislature convenes in January.
