Tax burdens unbalanced
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Editor,
On the front page of the Missoulian on Sunday, Aug. 13, there was a headline, “House, island on the market for $78 million.” There are pictures of a 24,000-square-foot house with a stone exterior (“currently the largest private home in Montana”) as well as a large guest house and massive dock system. In the third paragraph, it states that the taxes every year are $77,695. When I first read this number it sounded like a lot of taxes, but upon further thought I realized that that was a bargain, since this property is being taxed at only $1,000 per $1 million of value.
Many of us with very humble dwellings on waterfront properties would be thrilled if that were the tax burden we carried. We would not be forced to sell properties that have been in our families for generations because we can no longer afford the tax burden. On my land on the river that my grandfather bought in 1910, the tax bill is $8,000 per $1 million of value. On the villa sites on the East Shore that were purchased by my father and grandfather in 1915, the tax bill is $10,373 per $1 million.
I get very angry when I realize that the rich have again figured out a way to cheat on their obligations through some loophole. Those of us who were lucky enough to have had property passed down through generations or those who worked hard to buy a simple “lake place” now find we cannot afford to keep them. Yet, again, the rich get richer, and the middle class continues to decline.
Karen Lenz
Polson
