Gov. Paul LePage has proposed an adjustment of Maine tax revenues. One area is a municipality’s revenue. The exact language of the proposed legislation is too long to print here.
LePage has proposed property taxes on nonprofits, a term used for certain tax-exempt properties of a community.
The tax would be on “50 percent of the aggregate value exceeding the first $500,000 per owner per municipality, to begin in the 4/1/16 tax year.”
If additional municipal revenue is needed, I think a better plan would be a law that gives a community the option to charge a reasonable fee to all nonprofit property owners for fire and police protection, trash collection and road maintenance. Each nonprofit should pay equally for those services, or pay nothing — which has been the case for the past 200 years.
Since nonprofits are usually not involved with the school system, which is a large part of property taxes, taxing them based on property values is unfair. However, I believe good citizenship means contributing something for services furnished. The key words in this proposal are “option,” “reasonable fee,” and “all nonprofit property owners.”
Therefore, I suggest the tax law give the municipality the right to charge nonprofits a fee for services determined by the municipality. The municipality could elect to not charge the nonprofits anything. Any revenue from the fees would go to the community, as would a property tax.
Thomas Shields, Auburn
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