I’ve been worried for some time that politicians may take advantage of property tax chaos to impose a statewide sales tax on top of existing property taxes — an idea Montanans have consistently rejected. Now, I’m starting to see the signs that my suspicions may come true. Montanans should beware of this sales tax trap. I hope you would agree with me that the only way Montana should ever enact a statewide sales tax is to be used exclusively to replace existing property or income taxes.
The legislature’s sweeping 2025 property tax shifts have certainly shaken up the system. Our new progressive tax structure has led to modest relief for some homeowners, while others are seeing tax increases up to 800%, literally forcing Montanans out of homes they’ve owned for generations. Massive tax hikes on apartment buildings are increasing rents. Montanans are selling family cabins or relying on dubious legal loopholes to avoid the new punitive second-home tax. To top it off, a serious legal challenge to the 2025 property tax legislation may invalidate the whole thing. Meanwhile, overall property tax collections haven’t gone down, they’ve increased by $127 million (5%) for 2026. This is not the property tax relief Montanans needed. What a mess.
Amidst this chaos, powerful lobbies have conveniently decided now is the time to move on pushing a sales tax. In September, emails uncovered by the Montana Free Press confirmed the Coalition of Advocates for Montana Public Schools (CAMPS) are secretly planning to push state lawmakers on a plan to enact a new 3% statewide sales tax. The CAMPS 3% sales tax would fund increased spending (and therefore grow the tax burden) for K-12 schools by $220 million, while offsetting only about 30% of property tax bills. The CAMPS plan doesn’t “cut” tax collections, it deceptively increases overall tax collections under the guise of providing partial “property tax relief.” Very sneaky! As usual, the taxpayers lose.
This sales tax push by CAMPS, made up of some of Montana’s most powerful lobbies like the Montana School Boards Association and the School Administrators, should concern all taxpayers. There seems to be a real plan afoot to co-opt political appetite for “property tax relief” into a way to grow government with a sales tax.
Even more concerning: this plan would have never been uncovered if not for internal emails leaking to the press. CAMPS has not gone public with their sales tax plan other than vaguely calling for the decennial school funding commission to “explore alternative revenue sources for Montana’s public schools”.
The CAMPS sales tax proposal does not pass the “No Swap, No Tax” test. It replaces a portion of property taxes with a sales tax, sure, but it also diverts hundreds of millions of sales tax revenues towards new government spending which increases our overall tax burden.
The only way Montana should ever enact a statewide sales tax is to be used solely to replace existing taxes. No sales tax unless our property or income taxes are eliminated. No using sales tax revenues to grow government. No Swap, No Tax. Period.
The leaked emails made clear that CAMPS understands their sales tax proposal may not be popular with Montanans.
Lawmakers should reject the CAMPS sales tax plan if it is actually brought forward. The last thing taxpayers need right now is a heavier tax burden — we need real, permanent tax relief.
Instead, I propose a simple guiding principle that Montanans should demand in any sales tax conversation: No Swap, No Tax.
Kendall Cotton is president and CEO of the Frontier Institute, a think tank based in Helena dedicated to keeping Montanans free to build, create, and innovate.