On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) held a press briefing about statewide tax relief efforts.
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00:00Well, Grace, it's great to be back at The Rancher's Daughter.
00:05This is a proud local business here in Kalispell, and it's my second visit.
00:10I was here two years ago when you opened up, and it's great to see you prospering and expanding.
00:17They've continued their success in combining with Haley.
00:21You now have Glacier Grinds under the same roof, so I would encourage people to come out and patronize them.
00:27And small business owners like Grayson, Caroline, and Haley are really the backbone of our economy.
00:38Not only are they making great agricultural products from Montana available to the public,
00:43they're also driving our economy, just like so many small businesses.
00:47And we've really worked during our administration to help small businesses across the state.
00:54And one of the biggest things I've heard from people is just the need to make it easier,
01:00to lower the tax burden, to let businesses and individuals keep more of what they do.
01:07Since November, we released a budget, and I've been really clear in our priorities based on what we learned last November.
01:16We need meaningful, permanent tax relief, both in property taxes and income taxes.
01:22And I fundamentally believe that every Montanan should be able to keep more of what they earn,
01:28and we should support Montana homeowners as a primary objective.
01:33There are a number of proposals moving through the legislature right now,
01:36and I'm looking forward to getting bills to my desk.
01:39So today we can't, of the priorities, we can't check off property taxes or income taxes yet,
01:48but there's still a little time on the clock, or the budget, or judicial reform.
01:55But I'd like to ask Grayson and Haley, just to, I want to thank you for letting us come to your business,
02:02and give you a chance just to share a little bit about the importance of letting you keep more of your money.
02:08Yeah.
02:08Go ahead.
02:09Yeah, so.
02:10I'll just let you step up.
02:11Okay, perfect.
02:12Hi, I'm Haley with Glacier Grinds, and I would say keeping more taxes lower would be really helpful
02:20because it helps us be able to advance our payroll and help give us, let us give bonuses more
02:26because we don't have to pay as much, and also lowering the property taxes, like, around here for our landlord
02:34to be able not to raise our rents.
02:36So, yeah, I would say just kind of all the things.
02:40Haley, tell everybody about your business.
02:42Yeah, so we just started Glacier Grinds this last April 16th we opened,
02:47and we are a coffee shop here in Calisville, Montana.
02:52I've done coffee for 11 years, so finally got to open my own, and, yeah.
02:58It's exciting.
02:58Yeah, super fun.
03:00Yeah.
03:01I'll let you go.
03:04I'm Grayson Buckner.
03:05I'm the co-owner of The Rancher's Daughter.
03:07Caroline Rose Bohannon owns it with me, and so we opened here in Calisville in August of 2022,
03:13and we're a farm-to-table retail store.
03:14So we specialize in local produce and frozen meat, so we do beef, pork, chicken, and lamb.
03:21All of it comes from Montana, and we sell it by the cut, and really we want to support local ranchers
03:27and then offer one location for consumers to stop where they can feel comfortable,
03:33where their food is coming from, where they can ask questions and have those questions answered
03:37from a good resource and just to make it easy because buying local is not always the easiest
03:43and most sustainable thing.
03:44So the easier we can make that, the better.
03:47And as we kind of hit on, we've expanded.
03:49So this is actually our third location.
03:51We're super excited to have Glacier Grinds here with us in this location.
03:55We've got some food trucks on site, and then we're going to have a farmer's market this summer.
03:59Just we have a lot of really big things going on, but those expansions can be pretty nerve-wracking,
04:05we'll say, when costs kind of continuously go up, both on, as Haley hit on, like our property taxes
04:12here on this location, and then also our cost of living just from an employee standpoint
04:17and an employer standpoint, both.
04:19And so, yeah, lower taxes would be a big thing for that.
04:24Just, one, it allows us to put more money in our pockets, which then we can turn around
04:27to our employees and to also the producers that we work with.
04:31Our mission is really to ensure the next generation of farmers and ranchers,
04:35and that starts with paying a good wage both to our employees and then also those producers
04:40who are producing for us across the state, which we right now even work with, like, 4-H
04:45and FFA kids to raise our pork and lamb.
04:48So that's really exciting for us to get to support them from a young age,
04:52and then hopefully they'll be producing for generations to come, which is very exciting.
04:57And so agriculture is not for the faint of heart, and small business ownership is not
05:01for the faint of heart.
05:02And as prices raise, it gets more and more, it's harder for people that barrier of entries
05:08quite a bit, whether they're starting a new business or expanding or just growing their ranch.
05:13And so the support that we're getting here and the ability, our potential to lower those
05:18taxes, we really, really appreciate, as if those ranchers and employees are not able
05:24to continue, then not only does our business not exist, but we won't be able to support
05:28those local food that we know and love going into the future.
05:32So we are really thankful for you to come by, and yeah, just glad to be part of this.
05:36Yeah, great.
05:36So Grayson, congratulations on your continued success, and Haley, we wish you the best at
05:42your own shop here.
05:44This was the to-do list that Montanans sent us to Helena to complete.
05:50Reduce property taxes, that's at the top of the list.
05:54Limit spending.
05:55This ultimately allows us to not grow the size of government, so we don't have to raise
06:01taxes down the road.
06:02Cut income taxes.
06:04We have the highest income tax rate in the region.
06:08It needs to come down.
06:09We've made progress, but there's more work to be done.
06:11Reform our judiciary and increase starting teacher pay.
06:15And I'm very pleased to let you know I can cross one off today.
06:18We got this bill coming to my desk, so we got the over $100 million increase to our schools
06:25to make sure our teachers, we have the best and the brightest in front of our classrooms.
06:30There's still a few things left on the to-do list.
06:33There's still time on the clock, and I'm looking forward to getting these bills to my desk so
06:38we can make them a reality for Montanans.
06:40So thank you for coming out today, and we'll be happy to do one-on-ones with the media folks.
06:45Thanks.