Senate committee hears bill to create limited renter tax credit capped at $500

At a Senate Taxation Committee hearing, lawmakers heard testimony on Senate Bill 225, a proposal to create a refundable income tax credit for renters younger than 62 who spend a high share of household income on rent.

Sponsor Senator Morgeau, the bill’s author, told the committee the measure is intended to ease the effect of rising property taxes and rents on Montana renters. “This bill really came from a place where, you know, as we look across the state … how do you help people with property taxes in Montana as they continue to rise across the state,” Morgeau said during the presentation. He said the credit would be capped at $500 per household and limited to taxpayers with gross household income below $45,000.

The bill’s structure would require claimants to show they spend more than a threshold tied to a rent-equivalent property-tax calculation; the sponsor described that threshold as a rent-equivalent property-tax share of about 4 percent and noted that, in…