A Butte-Silver Bow County District Court judge has ruled a lawsuit alleging the state has violated its constitutional duty to equalize taxes fairly so that the burden doesn’t fall disproportionately to residential taxpayers can continue, even though attorneys for the Montana Department of Revenue had asked for the case to be dismissed.

In his order, judge Robert J. Whelan said that residents Thomas and Cindra Lord-Powers and Ryan and Elizabeth Swenson have made a prima facia case that would seem to suggest that the Gianforte administration and the Montana Department of Revenue made no attempt to equalize the taxes, as required by the Montana Constitution. Article VIII of the constitution says that property taxes can’t be shifted unfairly or disproportionately onto residential property o

See Full Page