3. Subsidized housing; special needs payment. A claim may not be granted under this section to claimants:

A. Whose housing costs for the year for which relief is requested were subsidized by government programs that limit housing costs to a percentage of household income, except that the exclusion provided by this paragraph does not apply to persons receiving social security disability or supplemental security income disability benefits.

4. Minimum benefit. A claim of less than $10 may not be granted.

Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §6209, as amended by PL 1989, c. 508, §25, is further amended to read:

§6209. Annual adjustment

1. Household limitation adjustment. Beginning March 1, 1989, and annually thereafter, the State Tax Assessor shall determine the household income eligibility adjustment factor. That factor shall must be multiplied by the income limitations in section 6206, applicable for the year prior to that for which relief is requested. The result shall must be rounded to the nearest $100 and shall apply applies to the year for which relief is requested corresponding to the year on which the annualized cost of living adjustments were based. Beginning March 1, 1991, the same procedure shall be employed to adjust the income limitation in section 6207, subsection 2.

SUMMARY

This bill provides expanded property tax relief for the homestead property of persons with a high property tax burden by expanding the Maine Residents Property Tax Program to provide benefits equal to 80% of the property taxes for a homestead that exceed 4% of the taxpayer's income. The amount of rent constituting property taxes accrued for nonelderly households is increased from 18% to 20%. The income eligibility requirements are repealed. The cost of expanding the Maine Residents Property Tax Program is compensated for by decreasing the Maine resident homestead property tax exemption from $7,000 to $3,000.