Gov. Greg Gianforte Holds Press Briefing To Provide Update On Montana Tax Relief Efforts

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On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) held a press briefing about statewide tax relief efforts.

Transcript

00:00Well, Grace, it's great to be back at The Rancher's Daughter.

00:05This is a proud local business here in Kalispell, and it's my second visit.

00:10I was here two years ago when you opened up, and it's great to see you prospering and expanding.

00:17They've continued their success in combining with Haley.

00:21You now have Glacier Grinds under the same roof, so I would encourage people to come out and patronize them.

00:27And small business owners like Grayson, Caroline, and Haley are really the backbone of our economy.

00:38Not only are they making great agricultural products from Montana available to the public,

00:43they're also driving our economy, just like so many small businesses.

00:47And we've really worked during our administration to help small businesses across the state.

00:54And one of the biggest things I've heard from people is just the need to make it easier,

01:00to lower the tax burden, to let businesses and individuals keep more of what they do.

01:07Since November, we released a budget, and I've been really clear in our priorities based on what we learned last November.

01:16We need meaningful, permanent tax relief, both in property taxes and income taxes.

01:22And I fundamentally believe that every Montanan should be able to keep more of what they earn,

01:28and we should support Montana homeowners as a primary objective.

01:33There are a number of proposals moving through the legislature right now,

01:36and I'm looking forward to getting bills to my desk.

01:39So today we can't, of the priorities, we can't check off property taxes or income taxes yet,

01:48but there's still a little time on the clock, or the budget, or judicial reform.

01:55But I'd like to ask Grayson and Haley, just to, I want to thank you for letting us come to your business,

02:02and give you a chance just to share a little bit about the importance of letting you keep more of your money.

02:08Yeah.

02:08Go ahead.

02:09Yeah, so.

02:10I'll just let you step up.

02:11Okay, perfect.

02:12Hi, I'm Haley with Glacier Grinds, and I would say keeping more taxes lower would be really helpful

02:20because it helps us be able to advance our payroll and help give us, let us give bonuses more

02:26because we don't have to pay as much, and also lowering the property taxes, like, around here for our landlord

02:34to be able not to raise our rents.

02:36So, yeah, I would say just kind of all the things.

02:40Haley, tell everybody about your business.

02:42Yeah, so we just started Glacier Grinds this last April 16th we opened,

02:47and we are a coffee shop here in Calisville, Montana.

02:52I've done coffee for 11 years, so finally got to open my own, and, yeah.

02:58It's exciting.

02:58Yeah, super fun.

03:00Yeah.

03:01I'll let you go.

03:04I'm Grayson Buckner.

03:05I'm the co-owner of The Rancher's Daughter.

03:07Caroline Rose Bohannon owns it with me, and so we opened here in Calisville in August of 2022,

03:13and we're a farm-to-table retail store.

03:14So we specialize in local produce and frozen meat, so we do beef, pork, chicken, and lamb.

03:21All of it comes from Montana, and we sell it by the cut, and really we want to support local ranchers

03:27and then offer one location for consumers to stop where they can feel comfortable,

03:33where their food is coming from, where they can ask questions and have those questions answered

03:37from a good resource and just to make it easy because buying local is not always the easiest

03:43and most sustainable thing.

03:44So the easier we can make that, the better.

03:47And as we kind of hit on, we've expanded.

03:49So this is actually our third location.

03:51We're super excited to have Glacier Grinds here with us in this location.

03:55We've got some food trucks on site, and then we're going to have a farmer's market this summer.

03:59Just we have a lot of really big things going on, but those expansions can be pretty nerve-wracking,

04:05we'll say, when costs kind of continuously go up, both on, as Haley hit on, like our property taxes

04:12here on this location, and then also our cost of living just from an employee standpoint

04:17and an employer standpoint, both.

04:19And so, yeah, lower taxes would be a big thing for that.

04:24Just, one, it allows us to put more money in our pockets, which then we can turn around

04:27to our employees and to also the producers that we work with.

04:31Our mission is really to ensure the next generation of farmers and ranchers,

04:35and that starts with paying a good wage both to our employees and then also those producers

04:40who are producing for us across the state, which we right now even work with, like, 4-H

04:45and FFA kids to raise our pork and lamb.

04:48So that's really exciting for us to get to support them from a young age,

04:52and then hopefully they'll be producing for generations to come, which is very exciting.

04:57And so agriculture is not for the faint of heart, and small business ownership is not

05:01for the faint of heart.

05:02And as prices raise, it gets more and more, it's harder for people that barrier of entries

05:08quite a bit, whether they're starting a new business or expanding or just growing their ranch.

05:13And so the support that we're getting here and the ability, our potential to lower those

05:18taxes, we really, really appreciate, as if those ranchers and employees are not able

05:24to continue, then not only does our business not exist, but we won't be able to support

05:28those local food that we know and love going into the future.

05:32So we are really thankful for you to come by, and yeah, just glad to be part of this.

05:36Yeah, great.

05:36So Grayson, congratulations on your continued success, and Haley, we wish you the best at

05:42your own shop here.

05:44This was the to-do list that Montanans sent us to Helena to complete.

05:50Reduce property taxes, that's at the top of the list.

05:54Limit spending.

05:55This ultimately allows us to not grow the size of government, so we don't have to raise

06:01taxes down the road.

06:02Cut income taxes.

06:04We have the highest income tax rate in the region.

06:08It needs to come down.

06:09We've made progress, but there's more work to be done.

06:11Reform our judiciary and increase starting teacher pay.

06:15And I'm very pleased to let you know I can cross one off today.

06:18We got this bill coming to my desk, so we got the over $100 million increase to our schools

06:25to make sure our teachers, we have the best and the brightest in front of our classrooms.

06:30There's still a few things left on the to-do list.

06:33There's still time on the clock, and I'm looking forward to getting these bills to my desk so

06:38we can make them a reality for Montanans.

06:40So thank you for coming out today, and we'll be happy to do one-on-ones with the media folks.

06:45Thanks.

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