Montana News
Legislature releases interactive model for a hypothetical statewide sales tax
With Montana News, I'm Austin Amastoy. The Montana Legislature has a new interactive model to forecast impacts of a hypothetical sales tax in the state. MTPR's John Hooks has more. Lawmakers on the Modernization and Risk Analysis Committee last year charged legislative staff to develop long-term models of Montana's tax revenue. Legislators will use the models to predict how changes to tax policy could affect the state's finances. The task for legislative staff included analyzing impacts of adding streams of tax revenue Montana currently does not possess. Staff this week released their model for a hypothetical statewide sales tax. The model uses spending data to project revenue a sales tax could generate across a variety of industries, from both Montana residents and tourists. The data came from the University of Montana's Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research and S&P Global, a financial analytics firm. Users can adjust the tax rate and filter by different industries to project a sales tax revenue under various conditions. In Butte, I'm John Hooks.