Politics & Co.
For the state’s balance sheet, black is the new black. The last fiscal year ended on June 30 with a $58 million surplus for state government, but Maine Revenue Services officials speculate that’s due to a jump in personal income revenue, a result of more people piling income into 2012 to avoid paying federal income taxes that rose in 2013.
Where’s the pork?
That surplus stands to affect budget discussions to come, as a group of 13 legislators will meet later this year with a mandate to root out $40 million from ineffective tax exemptions and economic development incentives, or make further cuts to the state’s revenue sharing with municipalities. The members of the committee have not yet been named, according to the Portland Press Herald, but legislators on both sides of the aisle have begun staking out hopes for the group’s work reviewing an estimated $1 billion in annual incentives and tax breaks. Sen. Anne Haskell, D-Portland and co-chairwoman of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee, told the paper the committee will not necessarily seek to make wholesale cuts to incentive or exemption programs, but might find the $40 million by cutting back across a wide variety of programs.
Something borrowed
Gov. Paul LePage is calling on legislators to meet this month to approve a $100 million transportation bond for the November ballot, but Democrats say the proposal should be considered in September alongside a bevy of other borrowing proposals carried over from the last legislative session.
Corporate taxes down
In an initial tally, the Portland Press Herald reported the state’s revenue from corporate taxes was down around $60 million for the last fiscal year.
State officials said that’s due largely to three tax cuts passed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2011, but state officials said just how much each tax cut contributed to the total remains unclear.
Michael Allen, an associate commissioner for tax policy at Maine Revenue Services, told the paper the largest reason for the decrease is a new law that allows businesses to write off the full cost of some equipment purchases in the same year rather than over a three-year period.
Allen said the agency is still sorting through some of the larger corporate filings, and some companies have sought extensions that would allow them to file in October.
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