Montana Court Upholds Corporate Tax Privacy

Montana State Senator Jim Elliott will appeal a Montana judge’s ruling that the Montana Department of Revenue cannot be forced to disclose private corporate tax records. Senator Elliott wanted to see the records to determine if Montana corporations were paying their “fair share” of taxes.

This ruling is a victory for taxpayers and a victory for the principles of sound tax policy. Lawmakers do not need access to confidential corporate tax information to make tax law. Rather, the Montana Department of Revenue, which has unfettered access to private corporate tax records, is fully capable of enforcing the tax laws against those corporations that might be skirting their responsibility to pay Montana tax.

The Tax Foundation released a report in March highlighting the policy problems with Senator Elliott’s lawsuit. You can read the report by clicking here.