CI97 Will Take Your Tax Rebate

I have written on the problems of CI97 here before. Now there are new issues according to an article in the Helena IR.

If Montanans approve a constitutional spending cap in November, the Legislature likely couldn’t pass the property-tax rebate plans of Gov. Brian Schweitzer or Republicans without a statewide referendum, the Revenue Department said Thursday.

Now, anyone who read Wulfgar's post knows that we want the the democrat's square deal, but how can an initiative that is meant to cap government spending put a halt on rebates? Revenue Director Dan Bucks asked agency attorney Brenda Gilmer to look into that.

Under CI-97,if the Legislature proposed spending money on tax relief, this cost of the rebates plus the rest of certain government spending, couldn’t exceed the spending cap, Gilmer said.

As a result, the Legislature couldn’t pass the property tax relief without a voter referendum unless the tax rebates were “pro-rata,’’ or spread across all classes of property, or unless it refunded user charges or fees.

This initiative is riddled with problems. It takes control from the people we choose to represent us, it ties their hands so that they can not govern. I am not really into letting a rich New York libertarian draft and finance an amendment that will take away the ability of my representatives to make decisions to keep progress rolling in Montana.