The Joint Standing Committee on Taxation voted along party lines – with Democrats supporting and Republicans opposing – the “ought to pass as amended” report on LD 1704, An Act to Change the Exclusion Amount Under the Estate Tax and Provide Additional Funding for the Housing Opportunities for Maine Fund. Sponsored by Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), LD 1704 is a carryover bill. The Maine State Chamber testified in opposition to the bill last session. Among other things, the bill as originally drafted would have lowered the exclusion amount under the estate tax from $5.7 million to $1 million, making more of Mainers’ estates taxable.
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Last week, the Energy, Utilities and Technology (EUT) committee voted “ought to pass as amended” on LD 1894, Act To Support Municipal Broadband Infrastructure through Incentives and Competition. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce testified in opposition to the bill at its public hearing in early February. Last week during the work session, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Eloise Vitelli (D-Sagadahoc) released an amendment to LD 1894, which became the committee’s majority report with nine members supporting the amendment, and three opposing.
On Thursday, March 17, the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation held a work session on LD 1995, An Act to Make Supplemental Appropriations and Allocations for the Expenditures of State Government, General Fund and Other Funds and to Change Certain Provisions of the Law Necessary to the Proper operations of State Government for the Fiscal Years Ending June 30, 2022 and June 30, 2023. Sponsored by Rep. Teresa Pierce (D-Falmouth), LD 1995 is the Governor’s supplemental budget bill for fiscal years 2022-2023. Throughout the past several weeks, the Appropriations committee has held public hearings on the different provisions in the supplemental budget. This week and next, each committee is supposed to report back to the Appropriations committee with its recommendations. The Taxation committee held several votes on many of the provisions.
This week, the Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) committee had a public hearing and work session on LD 2018, An Act To Implement Recommendations Regarding the Incorporation of Equity Considerations in Regulatory Decision Making. This was a committee bill following a piece of legislation passed last year, which convened a stakeholder group to discuss this issue further. The Maine State Chamber did testify on this legislation stating our concerns regarding the impact this could have on the permitting process in Maine. We took a “neither for nor against” position as we intend to engage in the rulemaking process for this legislation to ensure our concerns can be addressed.
The Joint Standing Committee on Taxation held a work session on Thursday, March 10. The committee unanimously voted “ought-to-pass as amended” on LD 1156, An Act to Reduce Errors in Employment Tax Increment Financing, sponsored by Rep. Amy Arata (R-New Gloucester). The bill, as originally drafted, attempts to simplify the way benefits under the Employment Tax Increment Financing (ETIF) program are calculated. The bill would base the benefits on gross wages of qualified employees rather than on income tax withholding for those employees.
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