Tax break debate intensifies In light of new law, Cabela’s consultant calls L.L. Bean claims ‘hollow’

PORTLAND – A new law that repeals most business equipment taxes for many Maine firms includes a break for L.L. Bean, and a consultant to the developer seeking to bring Bean competitor Cabela’s to Scarborough says that undercuts the Freeport company’s objections to Cabela’s efforts to avoid collecting Maine sales taxes on online and catalog orders after its planned store opens.

“It really makes their claims of special deals incredibly hollow,” consultant Ted O’Meara said. “Those charges were not accurate to begin with. You want to talk about level playing fields and special deals, you look at what they did with the Legislature.”

The tax break for Bean’s should save at least a part of the company’s equipment tax bill with Freeport, which was nearly $1.5 million last year.

Repeal legislation this spring kept property taxes on retail business equipment, but the enacted law offers an exemption on equipment for stores larger than 100,000 square feet if the sales in that store amount to less than 30 percent of the company’s revenues for Maine-based operations.

That description appears to fit only Bean and its flagship Freeport store.

David Ledew, the director of the property tax division of Maine Revenue Services, told the Maine Sunday Telegram that officials haven’t been able to find any companies other than Bean’s that meet the criteria, although applications for the exemption aren’t due until next year.

Bean has almost all of its operations in Maine, including its Internet and catalog sales operations, and last year recorded $1.47 billion in sales. A Bean’s spokesman confirmed for the Telegram that the Freeport store accounts for less than 30 percent of the company revenues.

Cabela’s has asked Maine Revenue Services for a ruling on the sales tax issue, maintaining it set up its Internet and catalog divisions as separate entities which still would not have a physical presence in Maine after a store opens.

Bean’s has been among those against allowing Cabela’s to continue to sell goods to Mainers via the Internet or catalog without collecting the state’s 5 percent sales tax.