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Drive-Through Economics

Tester, Montana Gov. Bullock buy no-tax tacos

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, left, and Sen. Jon Tester make a point about Montana's lack of a sales tax. (Friends of Steve Bullock)
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, left, and Sen. Jon Tester make a point about Montana's lack of a sales tax. (Friends of Steve Bullock)

Montana’s Democratic governor and the state’s Democratic senator drive up to a Taco John’s drive-through window.

“Hey, is there a sales tax in Montana?” Gov. Steve Bullock asks the worker in the window of the Montana-favorite taco joint while Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., listens from the driver’s seat.

In a video released on Facebook on Saturday, paid for by friends of Steve Bullock, the incumbent governor stresses the importance of having no sales tax in his state.

“Governor, what if there was a 4 percent sales tax?” Tester asks.

“If there was a 4 percent sales tax, that would be another 65 cents,” Bullock says.

“We wouldn’t have been able to pay for our breakfast,” Tester replies.

[Take 5: Sen. Jon Tester]

Bullock says: “Not only that, not only would we not have been able to have breakfast today, think about Montanans all across the state. Next thing you know, 4 percent on the tacos, 4 percent on their ammo.”

“Four percent on the diapers,” Tester adds. “Four percent on everything.”

Two-thirds of Montanans normally vote against sales tax, Bullock says.

[What Do Montana Senators Give Each Other For Their Birthdays?]

“There’s one guy though that actually said said that sales tax would be the best solution,” Bullock says, referring to his opponent, Republican businessman Greg Gianforte.

“He ain’t really from Montana,” Tester adds and the two laugh. Gianforte was born in San Diego, Calif.

There is an ongoing debate in Montana about if the Republican candidate actually does want to institute a sales tax.

The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call rates the race Leans Democratic.

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