Strong bipartisan support for adding a tax credit for renters to whatever mix of tax relief for home owners is passed during this session makes good political sense. But where was relief for renters last summer?

That's when both Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Republican legislative leaders came out with different ways to pledge the return of some of the state's projected budget surplus over the next two years to beleaguered property taxpayers. The governor suggested up to a $400 rebate to homeowners who are Montana residents, while the GOP held out for cuts in property tax rates for all types of property.

Schweitzer contended that rebates were best because the state's large surplus is unlikely to continue indefinitely, so cutting tax rates is too risky. Republicans countered that property owners have been paying an inordinate share of the burden for too long and that it is time for "permanent" property tax relief.

Lost in the shuffle were an estimated 83,000 people who rent their apartments or houses. Knowing full well that part of the rent they fork over each month goes to pay property taxes on the building they live in, renters could be excused for resenting their exclusion from the tax-relief party.

But they are forgotten no more. A bill to give renters with gross income below $45,000 a year a tax credit equal to 3 percent of the gross rent they paid -- up to $120 per rental unit -- sailed through the House 75-24, and in some form it should find a similar welcome in the Senate. The credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of a renter's state income tax bill, and the amount exceeding the income taxes owed would be refunded.

The bill's warm legislative reception is hardly surprising. Not only are renters on average more likely to really need the money, but their votes count as much as anybody else's.