15-10-401. Declaration of policy. (1) The state of Montana's reliance on the taxation of property to support education and local government has placed an unreasonable burden on the owners of classes three, four, six, nine, twelve, and fourteen property, as those classes are defined in Title 15, chapter 6, part 1.
     (2) The legislature's failure to give local governments and local school districts the flexibility to develop alternative sources of revenue will only lead to increases in the tax burden on the already overburdened property taxpayer.
     (3) The legislature is the appropriate forum to make the difficult and complex decisions to develop:
     (a) a tax system that is fair to property taxpayers; and
     (b) a method of providing adequate funding for local government and education.
     (4) The legislature has failed in its responsibility to taxpayers, education, and local government to relieve the tax burden on property classes three, four, six, nine, twelve, and fourteen.
     (5) The people of the state of Montana declare it is the policy of the state of Montana that no further property tax increases be imposed on property classes three, four, six, nine, twelve, and fourteen.

     History: En. Sec. 1, I.M. No. 105, approved Nov. 4, 1986.