Washington, D.C. – The Club for Growth Foundation released its 2025 State Economic Scorecard for Montana, detailing how every elected official in Helena approached limited-government policies.
The Scorecard analyzes policies and votes to assign an Economic Growth Score from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest support for pro-growth policies. In 2025, the Foundation’s study examined over 5,500 floor votes and, in the end, included 20 Montana House and 19 Montana Senate Votes.
“Montana lawmakers squandered a real tax win in 2025,” said Club for Growth Foundation President David McIntosh. “After legislators cut the state’s top income tax rate from 5.9% to 5.4% and deregulated environmental and appliance overreach, they reversed course. The new 16.1% budget hike increased total spending to $16.6 billion, adding $225 million in new Medicaid spending and more than $100 million in across-the-board teacher pay raises. Lawmakers also locked in a new $930 million trust fund over four years to subsidize pensions, housing, and childcare. Additionally, the House rejected a sweeping school freedom package, and the Senate tabled efforts to end the state’s costly Medicaid expansion to healthy adults. These results are unacceptable and will endanger Montana’s future economic success.”
Click here to view the full 2025 Montana State Economic Scorecard from the Club for Growth Foundation.
Key Highlights from the 2025 Montana Scorecard:
Montana House:
- Average Republican Score: 69%
- Average Democrat Score: 4%
- Highest Rated Republican(s): Reps. Caleb Hinkle (HD-68), Jedediah Hinkle (HD-67), and Tom Millett (HD-02): 100%
- Highest Rated Democrat(s): Rep. Mary Caferro (HD-81): 26%
- Lowest Rated Republican(s): Rep. Kenneth Walsh (HD-69): 18%
- Lowest Rated Democrat(s): 26 Democrats scored 0%
Montana Senate:
- Average Republican Score: 69%
- Average Democrat Score: 4%
- Highest Rated Republican(s): Sen. Kenneth Bogner (SD-18): 100%
- Highest Rated Democrat(s): Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy (SD-16): 14%
- Lowest Rated Republican(s): Sen. Gayle Lammers (SD-21): 24%
- Lowest Rated Democrat(s): Sens. Mary Dunwell (SD-42) and Janet Ellis (SD-41): 0%
Notable Pro-Limited Government Policies:
HB 148 – NO INCOME TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY
- Exempts all Social Security income from Montana’s individual income tax for all resident beneficiaries
- Reforms will reduce the tax burden by nearly $450 million through FY2029
HB 320 – SIGNIFICANT SCHOOL CHOICE REFORMS
- Establishes the Montana Academic Prosperity Program for Scholars
- Allows families with household income up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level to use tax-credit-funded accounts for K-12 tuition, tutoring, textbooks, homeschooling, and other eligible education expenses.
- The maximum scholarship amount is determined by a statewide formula, estimated at nearly $7,300 per pupil.
- If 80 percent of the donation and individual tax credits are utilized in FY2026, the funding cap is increased by an additional 20 percent for the following year.
HB 337 – SIGNIFICANT INCOME TAX REFORM PACKAGE
- Raises the income thresholds for the existing tax brackets in FY2026
- Single filers rise from $20,500 to $47,500
- Married joint filers rise from $41,000 to $95,000
- This threshold increases again in FY2027
- $47,500 to $65,000 for single filers
- $95,000 to $130,000 for married joint filers
- Income below those thresholds is taxed at 4.7 percent, and income above is taxed at a reduced rate of 5.65 percent in FY2026 and 5.4 percent in FY2027, down from a previous top rate of 5.9 percent
- Adjusts the bracket thresholds based on inflation data beginning in FY2028
- Reforms will reduce the tax burden on Montanans by over $750 million through FY2029
- Small anti-growth measure includes an increase in the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) welfare-matching program from 10 percent of the federal credit to 20 percent
Notable Anti-Limited Government Policies:
HB 2 – MASSIVE BUDGET BLOWOUT
- Appropriates $16.6 billion in total spending for the FY2026-27 fiscal biennium, a 16.1 percent increase over the biennial budget that includes:
- $225 million in increased Medicaid spending for reimbursement payments and federal match rate increases to accommodate the Obamacare expansion population
- Over $100 million in meritless across-the-board K-12 teacher pay raises
- Codifies expanded government employee benefits
- $24 million for an executive branch employee retention program
- Locks in new funding streams for permanent state welfare infrastructure
- Small win in the budget includes property tax relief
HB 551 – EXPANDED WELFARE PROGRAM
- Appropriates an additional $600,000 in funding for both FY2026 and FY2027 to schools through the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office to eliminate reduced-price “co-pays” in the federal school lunch welfare program
- Imposes a fake cap for the program, creating an explicit loophole that allows the superintendent to request additional appropriations as needed
- The program’s expansion will cost an additional $3 million through FY2029
HB 880 – NEW MEDICAID SLUSH FUND
- Authorizes a new stabilization slush fund to offset future “budget shortfalls” when funding fails to cover claims under the state’s costly and destructive Medicaid expansion
- Transfers at least $58.2 million to the Medicaid “stabilization” fund through FY2029
Note: This Scorecard is based on selected votes and does not reflect a legislator’s entire voting record. The Club for Growth Foundation does not endorse or oppose any legislator for public office.