Maine
Maine Republicans split in early talks on reining in property tax freezes for seniors
AUGUSTA, Maine — Legislative Republicans are at odds on the right way to deal with a politically widespread however logistically fraught program freezing property taxes for Maine seniors.
Change is probably going coming to the sweeping program championed by Senate Republicans and handed within the Legislature’s rush to conclude work in 2022 as debate kicks off over the right way to wrangle the sophisticated politics of reining in a big profit for all Maine seniors.
A number one Democrat is proposing to switch this system with an elevated homestead exemption for low-income seniors. One Home Republican is floating a cap on house values, whereas Senate Republicans are largely saying they need to hold issues as is.
“I’m going to keep it up for at the least this time period and if I come again, I’m going to keep it up the subsequent time period,” Sen. James Libby, R-Standish, a tax committee member, stated. “We made a promise.”
Underneath present regulation, Mainers 65 and older who’ve gotten a homestead exemption for the previous 10 years or extra can apply yearly to have taxes frozen on the previous 12 months’s cost. The distinction can be paid by the state to cities and cities. An estimated 100,000 Mainers have already utilized for this system, in response to the Maine Municipal Affiliation.
This system’s novel design means the associated fee will develop exponentially because the inhabitants ages and the hole between sheltered and actual tax values grows throughout the state. Gov. Janet Mills’ administration estimates that this system will price the state $15 million within the first 12 months and $31 million within the second 12 months.
The Democratic governor included that cash in her two-year finances proposal in January, however she has additionally signaled openness to altering this system. The largest critics of this system embrace native assessors and the municipal affiliation, citing the annual purposes already burdening clerks and seniors and saying this system can be arduous to manage.
The affiliation helps most of the proposals aiming to alter this system, together with two Republican-backed payments to get rid of the annual submitting requirement. However their main one is an overhaul of this system launched by Home Majority Chief Maureen Terry, D-Gorham.
It could exchange the freeze with an additional homestead exemption of $25,000 for seniors making lower than 80 % of the regional median revenue and $15,000 for these between 80 % and one hundred pc, buying and selling an even bigger long-term profit for a smaller speedy one. The homestead exemption reduces the worth of properties for property tax functions.
Democrats might make modifications on their very own, although doing so could also be politically unpopular. Republicans largely need to persist with this system other than scrapping the annual software, however their openness to different shifts might differ by their places and constituencies.
Libby represents the Sebago Lake area, the place property values have risen sharply in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. However Rep. Micky Carmichael, R-Greenbush, a tax panel member from rural Penobscot County, stated he’s keen to think about capping the freeze on the primary $300,000 of house values, calling it “an inexpensive value” for a Maine home. That’s below Maine’s median worth of $341,000, in response to Zillow.
“It’d be honest to everyone,” he stated. “It wouldn’t be taken benefit [of] by individuals who actually don’t want that a lot assist.”
The early chatter on the problem reveals there’s “basic curiosity” in fixing this system, stated Kate Dufour, a lobbyist for the municipal affiliation. However a lawmaker stated it’ll be arduous to do the work given the broadness of the present freeze.
“I really really feel like the chances are in opposition to us fixing it as a result of so many hundreds of individuals are ready on this,” stated Rep. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, who co-chairs the tax panel.