Governor raised property taxes, then ‘heaped on all sorts of bullshittery’ to make rebate application process difficult
Contact: [email protected]
KALISPELL, Mont. — As time runs out for Montana homeowners to claim their state tax rebates by navigating a complicated, unnecessary and confusing application process, former firearms executive Ryan Busse is calling on Governor Greg Gianforte to extend today’s arbitrary application deadline.
Busse today sent the following open letter via email to Gianforte:
October 2, 2023
Hon. Greg Gianforte
Montana State Capitol, Room 204
Helena, Montana 59601
RE: Heaps of bullshittery
Dear Governor Gianforte:
You walked into the 2023 session of the Montana Legislature with a $2.6 billion surplus. Of course, your billionaire buddies and their fancy lobbyists smelled that cash and raced to your door. You welcomed them in and quickly gave them our money. Huge corporations walked away with big smiles and even bigger tax breaks. No government hoops or geocodes needed.
That must have made you very happy, but smart people in the Montana Budget Office knew you had made a very smelly mess and those folks sounded the alarm. They wrote reports and briefed you in meetings. They warned you that all of those corporate giveaways combined with a changing Montana meant that every homeowner in the state was going to get slammed with huge property tax increases. And you shrugged it off.
But the budget folks were right. Just weeks after your private-jet corporate buddies got those big favors from you, we ordinary Montanans got screwed.
The prospect of sticking angry Montanans with thousands of dollars in higher taxes must have scared you a little because you tried to keep us quiet by offering homeowners a one-time rebate check of $675. Of course, you had to make the process difficult. You gave us only 45 days to apply for this rebate. You asked us to find the geocodes of our homes on some website, though you already have that information. You asked us for addresses and ages and Social Security Numbers, which you already have. Why didn’t you just send the rebates to the folks who qualified, as Governors Brian Schweitzer and Marc Racicot did before you?
No, Governor Tax-and-Spend, you did not make it easy. Far from it. Instead you imposed an arbitrary 45-day period requiring Montanans to “apply” for this rebate, then heaped on all sorts of bullshittery to make the application process as difficult and confusing as possible. Now your 45-day deadline is about to pass, and thousands of Montanans have not had the time or figured out how to jump through your government hoops.
You could have stopped this mess. You did not. Now at least stop making it difficult for Montanans.
On behalf of countless Montanans who have shared their concerns over your tax hike with me, I request that you extend the application period for our property tax rebates. Give Montana homeowners another 60 days, at the very least.
I further request that you audit state systems to identify all qualifying homeowners. Do what you should have done in the first place. Find them. Call them. Educate them. Give them their own money. And make it easy. For just once, treat citizens like they were your billionaire buddies.
Yours Very Truly,
Ryan Busse
Kalispell
QUICK FACTS:
- Pronunciation: Ryan BUSS’-ee
- Home: Kalispell, Mont.
- Office Sought: Governor of Montana
- Affiliation: Democrat
- Website: busseformontana.com
- X (Twitter): @ryandbusse
- DOB: 2/23/70 (53)
- Occupation: Writer, Consultant, Firearms Expert and Former Executive (Vice President of Sales, Kimber America: 1995-2020)
- Family: Married to Sara for 24 years; two sons: Lander (18) and Badge (15)
- Alma Mater: Bethany College (Kansas)
- Chevy Odometer: 280,000 miles
- Hunting Dogs: Aldo and Teddy
- Bio: Ryan Busse is an author and former firearms executive who helped build the gun company Kimber from Kalispell between 1995 and 2020. Over his 25-year career Busse directed the sales of nearly three million Kimber firearms. His memoir, Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America, was published by PublicAffairs (Hachette) in 2021. Busse was born near the Kansas cattle ranch homesteaded by his great-grandfather. He is an avid hunter, angler and champion of public lands, and has held leadership positions with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Montana Conservation Voters. Busse and his wife Sara live in Kalispell and have two teenage sons.