PORTLAND — Income taxes are going down while the sales tax expands to a number of new products as a budget compromise by state lawmakers takes effect with the new year.
The top income tax rate falls from 7.95 percent to 7.15 percent under a two-year, $6.7 billion budget approved by lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage last year. But most of the tax relief would go to the bottom 90 percent of wage earners.
That’s paid for in part by keeping the sales tax at 5.5 percent, instead of reverting to 5 percent as it was supposed to last summer.
There’s an expansion of sales tax to food and beverages that were previously exempt, including ice cream, Nutella, chips and sports drinks. Also, the tax on hotel rooms grew from 8 percent to 9 percent, and the restaurant meal tax stayed at 8 percent instead of dropping.
State officials have estimated that the changes in sales tax policy will generate an additional $97 million in revenue in the 2017 fiscal year.
Another notable tax change applies to what’s called the death tax. The threshold for Maine’s estate tax increases from $2.2 million to $5.5 million, providing a bigger exemption and bringing the state into line with the federal tax code.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
