Late Friday afternoon, Governor LePage presented his two-year budget tax reform proposal to cut the state’s income tax rates from 7.95% to 5.75% by 2018, decrease the corporate income tax and eliminate the estate tax. The Governor’s Budget Briefing highlights his long term vision for Maine.
Late Friday afternoon, Governor LePage presented his two-year budget tax reform proposal to cut the state’s income tax rates from 7.95% to 5.75% by 2018, decrease the corporate income tax and eliminate the estate tax. The Governor’s Budget Briefing highlights his long term vision for Maine.
To offset these cuts, he proposes to greatly expand the sales tax rate from the current 5.5% to 6.5% and place a new tax on a number of grocery items ranging from candy and soda, desserts and bakery items to infant formula.
In return for this expanded tax collection, he’s proposing a sales tax collection allowance of 0.5 percent of the amount of tax due but shall not exceed $1,000/month.
The Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement (BETR) program is also proposed to be phased out meaning that any retail property placed into service on or before April 15, 2015 will no longer be eligible for the exemption after 2025.
We are sifting through the proposal and will provide timely updates.