CHAPTER 652
S.P. 828 - L.D. 2210
An Act Relating to Tax Expenditure Review and Other Tax Reporting Requirements
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §1710-J, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 368, Pt. J, §1, is amended to read:
§1710-J. Access to information
In order to assist the committee, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services shall provide information and data to the committee on request. The committee members are bound by the confidentiality restrictions concerning certain tax records described in Title 36, chapter 7. The State Tax Assessor may disclose any corporate or individualized income tax data, sales and use tax data, business tax data, property tax data or other tax data to the committee or its staff. This information may be requested in any form, including paper records, computerized data or summary statistics, but may not be transmitted with any identification by taxpayer name, number or address and must be aggregated to include at least 3 taxpayers. The State Tax Assessor shall provide information annually to the committee before the committee's December 1st report pursuant to section 1710-F concerning the amount of actual capital gains and losses experienced by taxpayers filing income tax returns in the State under Title 36, Part 8 for tax years ending in the previous calendar year. Data reported concerning capital gains and losses may be distributed by decile or quartile. In the absence of actual data, the State Tax Assessor may provide estimates of the capital gains or loss experience.
Sec. 2. 5 MRSA §13070-J, sub-§1, ¶D, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 761, §2, is amended to read:
D. "Economic development incentive" means:
(1) Assistance from Maine Quality Centers under Title 20-A, chapter 431-A;
(2) The Governor's Training Initiative Program under Title 26, chapter 25, subchapter IV;
(3) Municipal tax increment financing under Title 30-A, chapter 207;
(4) The jobs and investment tax credit under Title 36, section 5215;
(5) The research expense tax credit under Title 36, section 5219-K;
(6) Reimbursement for taxes paid on certain business property under Title 36, chapter 915; or
(7) Employment tax increment financing under Title 36, chapter 917.; or
(8) The shipbuilding facility credit under Title 36, chapter 919.
Sec. 3. 36 MRSA §112, sub-§9-A, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 488, §1, is repealed.
Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §112, sub-11, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 169, §1, is repealed.
Sec. 5. 36 MRSA c. 9, as amended, is repealed.
Sec. 6. 36 MRSA §200, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 744, §1, is amended to read:
1. Impact of taxes on individuals. The bureau shall submit to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters and the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over appropriations and financial affairs a report containing the information required by this subsection to the Legislature by July 1, 1999 and by October 1st of each even-numbered year thereafter.
A. Part 1 of the report must describe the overall incidence of all state, local and county taxes. The report must present information on the distribution of the tax burden:
(1) For the overall income distribution, using a measure of system-wide incidence that appropriately measures equality and inequality;
(2) By income classes, including, at a minimum, deciles of the income distribution; and
(3) By other appropriate taxpayer characteristics.
B. Part 2 of the report must describe the impact of the tax system on business and industrial sectors. The report must:
(1) Describe the impact of taxes on major sectors of the business and industrial economy relative to other sectors; and
(2) Describe the relative impact of each tax on business and industrial sectors.
C. When determining the overall incidence of taxes under this subsection, the bureau shall reduce the amount of taxes collected by the amount of taxes that are returned directly to taxpayers through tax relief programs.
Sec. 7. 36 MRSA c. 10 is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 10
TAX EXPENDITURE REVIEW
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
1. Committee. "Committee" means the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters.
2. Tax expenditure. "Tax expenditure" means any provision of state law that results in the reduction of tax revenue due to special exclusions, exemptions, deductions, credits, preferential rates or deferral of tax liability.
1. Report. The bureau shall submit a report regarding tax expenditures to the committee by January 5th of each odd-numbered year. The report must contain:
A. A summary of each tax expenditure in the laws administered by the bureau;
B. A description of the purpose and background of the tax expenditure and the groups likely to benefit from the tax expenditure;
C. An estimate of the cost of the tax expenditure for the current biennium;
D. Any issues regarding tax expenditures that need to be considered by the Legislature; and
E. Any recommendation regarding the amendment, repeal or replacement of the tax expenditure.
The committee shall conduct the following reviews according to the following schedule.
1. Odd-numbered years. During each odd-numbered year the committee may review the report required under section 199-B.
2. Even-numbered years. During each even-numbered year the committee may review current issues of tax policy.
A. During each second regular session, the committee shall identify areas of tax policy for review during the period between the end of the second regular session and the first regular session of the next Legislature.
B. The committee may review:
(1) Issues of tax policy related to tax expenditures identified in its review under subsection 1;
(2) Issues related to the overall structure of the State's tax laws and the relative tax burdens on various classes of taxpayers;
(3) The impact of the State's tax structure on taxpayer behavior, including incentives and disincentives to reside or locate businesses in the State;
(4) Issues identified by the committee that require more detailed review than is possible during a regular session of the Legislature; or
(5) Any other tax policy issue identified by the committee as needing legislative review.
The committee shall notify the Legislature of the results of each review conducted under section 199-C and may issue a report of its findings and recommendations. The committee may report to the Legislature any legislation necessary to implement recommendations resulting from the review conducted under section 199-C.
Sec. 8. 36 MRSA §1119, as amended by PL 1999, c. 731, Pt. Y, §6, is further amended to read:
By December 31, 2000 and biennially thereafter, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources working with the Bureau of Revenue Services, representatives of municipal assessors and farmers shall prepare and report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters guidelines to assist local assessors in the valuation of farmland. The department shall also deliver these guidelines in training sessions for local assessors throughout the State. These guidelines must include recommended values for cropland, orchard land, pastureland and horticultural land, differentiated by region where justified. Any variation in assessment of farmland from the recommended values must be substantiated by the local assessor within the parameters allowed within this subchapter.
Sec. 9. 36 MRSA §1121, as amended by PL 1997, c. 526, §14, is further amended to read:
By January 1, 1989, and every 2 years thereafter, the The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources and the Bureau of Revenue Services shall periodically review the level of participation in the farm and open space tax program, the taxes saved due to that participation, the fiscal impact, if any, on municipalities, including the impact of any penalties assessed under section 1112 and the effectiveness of the program in preserving farmland and open space. The department and the bureau shall may report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation within 6 months after completion of the review matters on the status of the program. The department and the bureau shall may identify problems that prevent realization of the purposes of this subchapter and potential solutions to remedy those problems.
By February 1, 1992, the department and the bureau shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters on the potential problems that occur as a matter of transferring parcels between classifications and subsequent withdrawal of those or other parcels pursuant to sections 581, 1109, 1112 and 1115. Recommendations, if any, regarding the penalty provisions imposed by withdrawal from any of the classifications contained in subchapter II-A or this subchapter must be included in this report.
Sec. 10. 36 MRSA §5215, sub-§8, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 672, §1 and affected by §2, is repealed.
Sec. 11. 36 MRSA §6254, sub-§2-A, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 713, §4, is amended to read:
2-A. Inventory. The filing of the certificate in the registry of deeds is sufficient notice of the existence of the mortgage. Whenever the State acquires title to real estate, the State Tax Assessor shall cause an inventory to be made of all such real estate. The inventory must contain a description of the real estate, amount of accrued taxes by years and any information necessary to the administration and supervision of the real estate. The State Tax Assessor shall report annually to the Legislature not later than 15 days after the Legislature convenes. The report must contain a copy of the inventory of real estate then owned by the State and the recommendations for the disposition of this real estate that the State Tax Assessor makes.
Sec. 12. Identification of tax expenditures. By December 1, 2002, the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over taxation matters, in consultation with the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Revenue Services, shall identify tax expenditures that must be included in the report by the bureau required under that section of this Act that enacts the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 36, chapter 10 and develop a reporting format that will provide the committee with the information needed to review those tax expenditures effectively.
Effective July 25, 2002, unless otherwise indicated.
| Revisor of Statutes Homepage | Subject Index | Search | 120th Laws of Maine | Maine Legislature |
