An Act To Provide Consistency in the Application of the Property Tax Exemption for Religious Organizations
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §652, sub-§1, ¶G, as amended by PL 2007, c. 627, §20, is further amended to read:
G. Houses of religious worship, including vestries, and the pews and furniture within them; tombs and rights of burial; and property owned and used by a religious society as a parsonage up to the value of $20,000, and personal property not exceeding $6,000 in value are The real and personal property owned and occupied or used solely for its own purposes by a religious organization in connection with religious worship or as a parsonage is exempt from taxation, except that any portion of a parsonage that is rented is subject to taxation. For purposes of this paragraph, "parsonage" means the principal residence provided by a religious society organization for its cleric whether or not the principal residence is located within the same municipality as the house of religious worship where the cleric regularly conducts religious services.
SUMMARY
This bill expands the property tax exemption for property owned by religious organizations to include all real and personal property owned and occupied or used solely for its own purposes by a religious organization in connection with religious worship and removes the $20,000 limitation on the exemption for parsonages and the $6,000 limitation on the exemption for personal property.