(1) Section 15-6-134 , MCA, provides property tax relief to low income homeowners. The section requires the department to annually adjust the income schedules used to determine the eligibility and the amount of relief to account for the effects of inflation.

(2) The calculation of the inflation adjustment shall be made on a yearly basis as follows:

(a) Section 15-6-134 , MCA, specifies that the implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures (PCE) , published quarterly in the Survey of Current Business by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is to be used in the calculation of the inflation factor.

(b) The formula for the calculation of the inflation factor is as follows:

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��������������������PCE _(t-1)

�������������� IFt = ---------

��������������������PCE _{t o}

where:

����������IFt equals the inflation factor for property tax year t,

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����������PCE _(t-1) is the implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures for the

����������second quarter of the year prior to the tax year in question,

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����������PCE _{t o} is the implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures for the

����������second quarter of 1995.

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(c) The inflation factor, calculated per the previous section, is used to annually adjust the base year income schedules for the effects of inflation.

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Each income figure in the base year table is multiplied by the inflation factor calculated for the tax year in question in order to update the table. The product is then rounded to the nearest whole dollar amount. The base year income schedule is below.

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----------- Base Income Schedules -------------

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Single Person	Married Couple	Percentage ���� Multiplier
���� $0 - $6,000	�� ��� $0 - $8,000	20%
6,001 -�� 9,200	� 8,001 - 14,000	50%
9,201 - 15,000	14,001 - 20,000	70%