Tax relief priorities pressed by AARP Lobby: Fine-tune Baldacci proposal

AUGUSTA – As legislative deliberations resumed Tuesday on Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal to reduce property taxes, AARP Maine offered its views on the issue, saying the governor is on the right track but his bill needs some improvements.

The seniors’ lobby, which claims 200,000 members in Maine, said it wants increased benefits for eligible property taxpayers to kick in years sooner than the bill proposes, as well as faster increases in state funding for public schools.

“Many of us make New Year’s resolutions this time of the year,” said Les LeFond, AARP state director. “We call on the Legislature and governor to be resolute” in their attempt to pass a tax relief package.

AARP leaders held a news conference as the Joint Select Committee on Property Tax Reform resumed work sessions on Baldacci’s proposals to rein in property taxes that are said to be so high that some homeowners are being forced to sell.

A work session is scheduled today and a final recommendation is to be submitted to the Legislature in mid-January.

Baldacci’s bill seeks to broaden Maine’s “circuit-breaker program,” which provides property tax rebates for single-member households with incomes below $30,300 and $46,900 for multiple-member households. Baldacci seeks to raise those standards to $50,000 and $75,000 respectively.

AARP wants to set the maximum benefit at $3,000 now, rather than several years in the future as Baldacci proposes. The $1,000 benefit proposed is insufficient, it said.

AARP also wants the Homestead Exemption tax relief program now in existence scrapped, and a faster schedule for full 55 percent state funding of public schools.

The seniors’ group said repealing the Homestead program would provide $23 million that could be turned over to the circuit-breaker program but acknowledged that the cost of all of its proposals would far exceed that.

AARP also would like to make property tax rebates easier to access by tying them to state income taxes and administering them through Maine Revenue Services. AARP said it supports the concept of spending levels at all levels of government, as Baldacci’s bill recommends.

Baldacci’s key adviser on the issue, Planning Director Martha Freeman, said most of AARP’s proposals “are in the dialogue already” and under consideration by the tax study committee.

“The question for everybody is where do we find the revenue” to speed up tax refunds, Freeman said. She said the governor has put forward a proposal he believes can provide tax relief without increasing revenues.