May 12, 2007 7:26 AM

AP: Republicans Dig In To Stop Basic Tax Collection on Wealthy Landowners and Corporations

You may recall that Billings Gazette reporter Ed Kemmick attacked me for a piece in which I asserted that beneath all their rhetoric, Montana Republican legislators really were motivated to force an emergency special legislative session in order to block Democratic proposals to make sure the super-wealthy and large corporations actually pay the taxes they owe. Well, today the Associated Press confirms exactly what I originally reported:

"The biggest sticking point in the tax cut bill for many Republicans are provisions aimed at increasing tax collections from nonresidents and corporations, and they passed amendments in the House Appropriations Committee cutting more than $12 million from the Department of Revenue's budget."

In other words, the Republican leadership in the Montana legislature has no problem with resident taxpayers paying higher taxes because out-of-state landowners and corporations are being allowed to get away with not paying what they owe. This, folks, is the war on the middle class at work.

UPDATE: The Great Falls Tribune gives us more details, reporting that Republicans offered "amendments rang[ing] from reducing the number of lawyers in the state Department of Revenue to cutting funding for a tax-gap analysis." Unreal.