Cato Institute Gives Montana Governor A ‘C’ Grade In Recent Study

The Cato Institute, a think tank focused on small government, recently published a report card for all of the nation’s governors, ranking them from ‘A’ to ‘F’ based on how they approached taxes and state spending. The study’s Author Chris Edwards explains his rankings and where Montana Governor Steve Bullock stands.

“Essentially what I do is the governors are competing with each other so I sort of bell curve the results,” said Edwards. “There are five ‘A’ and ten ‘F’ grades this year, but everyone else is in the middle. Governor Bullock is in the middle and frankly for a democrat he did pretty well. Most democratic governors are down near the bottom.”

Edwards says he gave Bullock a ‘C’ grade because of the governor’s hesitation to pass tax reform.

“Governor Bullock has vetoed repeatedly efforts of tax reform passed by the legislator and the way I score that is a negative,” Edwards said. “I think that it is very important that the state government and our competitive economy reform tax codes, get rid of the loop holes, and lower the overall rates to make businesses more productive and efficient.”

Edwards study tilts towards republicans with no democratic Governor receiving an ‘A’ grade. Governor Bullock was ranked 23rd overall, and was the 3rd highest ranked democrat in the country. You can take a look at the full study here.