Frontier Institute

How do you want this to be achieved?

We aren’t proposing any specific amendment or legislation at this time. We are building this movement to support taxpayer protections in any form Montana can adopt them. Constitutional is most durable, but voluntary local commitments and statutory caps matter too. The principle is the same regardless of vehicle used to achieve it.

Why cap at inflation?

Montana family budgets respond to inflation cost pressures. Capping government budgets at inflation keeps government growth in line with Montana families’ ability to pay for it through wages and economic growth.Most government costs also don’t scale with population, so inflation is an even better benchmark for conservative growth than adding population into the cap.Schools costs aren’t necessarily driven by.

but I thought local government budgets were already capped at half the rate of inflation?

County and city budget growth has been restricted to the average rate of inflation over a 3-year period, but that law only applies to property taxes. In our research on government budget growth, we measure all own-source revenues. Our 2026 Real Government Budgets report explains the differences and lays out our full methodology.

You say budgets grew, but aren't you actually measuring revenue?

The 2026 Real Government Budgets Report measures actual own-source revenue — what taxpayers are directly sending to government.Actual collections are the direct result of real government policy choices made: setting tax rates and bases, imposing fees, adjusting assessments, and enforcing collection.Measuring only formal appropriations understates the real growth in government size and taxpayer burden by ignoring.

What About Emergencies?

The caps would limit overall revenue growth at inflation, but they would not restrict emergency spending authority. Governments could still respond to natural disasters, recessions, or other crises when needed.Just like they do today, governments would be able to responsibly save during good years within the cap and make emergency appropriations when real crises hit.