3. Increasing the income limits for single-member households and households with 2 or more members to $45,000 and $75,000, respectively;

4. Increasing the renter rebate to 25%; and

5. Allowing persons to use the income tax form to file for a refundable credit.

Part B increases from 5.1% to 8.5% the percentage of sales and income tax revenues transferred to the Local Government Fund for revenue sharing.

Part C reforms the income tax by increasing the personal exemption amount to equal the federal amount, increasing the earned income credit and making it refundable and creating a 10% income tax bracket for income of $100,000 or more for single filers, $150,000 or more for persons filing as heads of household and $200,000 for persons filing married joint returns.

Part D does the following:

1. It expands the definition of "taxable services" for purposes of the imposition of sales tax to include amusement and recreational, business, personal and professional services. Under this bill, the provision of those services is subject to the 5% sales tax. The term "construction services" is also defined for the purpose of distinguishing nontaxable construction services from taxable personal or business services;

2. It eliminates the sales tax exemption for sales of short-term publications. It also limits the exemption on funeral services and repeals the exemption on coin-operated vending machine sales. It also amends the law by creating an exemption for certain legal services provided to low-income clients; and

3. It requires the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters to annually review the additional sales tax revenue collected,

as well as the annual cost of reimbursing municipalities as required. Any such revenue collected in excess of the reimbursement obligation must be used to reduce the tax burden on Maine citizens.

Part E increases the sales tax on lodging from 7% to 10%.