Maine lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill that would incrementally increase the state’s property tax homestead exemption over the next several years.
By lowering the tax-assessed value of Mainers’ homes, the homestead exemption helps to reduce the total property tax bill for which homeowners are responsible.
Currently, the homestead exemption allows Mainers to take $25,000 off the total tax-assessed value of their homes.
Under the proposed legislation, this would increase by $10,000 annually beginning in 2026 until it reaches a total of $95,000 in 2033.
At this point, the homestead exemption would continue to increase annually in accordance with the cost of living.
LD 140 — An Act to Incrementally Increase the Homestead Property Tax Exemption — was sponsored by Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) and cosponsored by Sen. Donna Bailey (D-York), Sen. Scott Cyrway (R-Kennebec), Rep. Amy J. Roeder (D-Bangor).
A public hearing on this bill in front of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee can be expected at some point in the coming months.
Click Here to Read the Full Text of LD 140
This is not the only property tax bill to have been introduced so far this legislative session.
For example, Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) brought forward a bill earlier this month that would increase the homestead exemption to $75,000 for Mainers 65 and older.
Under this proposal, seniors would qualify for the increased exemption if they have resided in their home for at least the past ten years.
If approved, seniors would be able to begin claiming the increased exemption this year.
[RELATED: Maine Lawmakers to Consider Additional Property Tax Relief for Senior Homeowners]
In 2024, many Maine homeowners saw their property tax bills increase by double-digit percentages, placing a significant financial strain on those with fixed incomes.
Considering Maine already has the fourth highest tax burden in the country — and the highest property tax burden of any state — Mainers have been feeling the property tax pinch more than ever.
In recent months, the Maine Wire received numerous messages from taxpayers in towns from Gray to Newcastle to Carthage reporting dramatic property tax hikes reflected in their FY25 bills.
While rising budget costs are often to blame for more expensive property tax bills, many of these increases appear to be the direct result of revaluations that have been conducted in response to the changes that have taken place in Maine’s housing market.
[RELATED: Sticker Shock — Maine Homeowners Burdened by Property Tax Hikes Following Recent Revaluations]
Under Maine’s constitution and state law, real estate must be assessed “according to [its] just value,” which according to case law, is equivalent to its market value — or the price for which it could reasonably be expected to sell.
A law approved by the Legislature in 1975 directed municipalities to have a minimum assessment ratio of 70 percent, meaning that the tax assessed value of a given property is not supposed to be less than 70 percent of its market value.
Generally speaking, municipalities revalue properties when they fall below this 70 percent threshold, whether that be due to the passage of time or a significant shift in the housing market.
Since 2019, home prices in Maine have nearly doubled, according to data tracked by the St. Louis Federal Reserve.
These higher sale price contribute to the increased valuations of houses that aren’t on the market, meaning that Mainers who have owned their homes for 20 years or more are suddenly on the hook for paying twice the property tax — even if their income has hardly grown.
[RELATED: Mainers Bear Nation’s Highest Property Tax Burden, 4th Highest Tax Burden Overall — WalletHub Study]
According to a recent study conducted by personal finance website WalletHub, Mainers currently bear the nation’s highest property tax burden, contributing an estimated 4.86 percent of their personal income to these taxes.
For comparison, residents of Alabama — the state found to have the lowest property tax burden — pay just 1.33 percent of their personal income in property taxes.
The end of rising property tax bills may not be coming any time soon. Several towns have yet to undergo revaluations, so similar hikes could be coming down the pipeline over the next two to three years for many Mainers.
Invest in deportation and deliver LEGAL citizens from the evil of taxation slavery
and injustice for all!
Stop spending like stupid stupid stupid spending!
Until the government curbs its want for your money they will keep getting it one way or the other. A shell game.
The government is already beyond a sustainable level. Look at the debt. Now look at most peoples personal debt.
It will crash, just a matter of when.
Great idea but just shows the level of intelligence of politicians. Run the state into the ground with a $5 mil shortfall then cut taxes. Brilliant! What’s your game Einstein?
Why does anyone expect the people.who created the problem to.solve it? For once can you guys in Augusta try cutting your spending?
My fellow Mainers:
Do not fall for this, the potential tax reduction here is literally PEANUTS compared to the property tax reduction FREEZE we had a couple of years ago and then got canceled by the legislature. The politicians (both sides of the isle) throw these big numbers out here, such as $25K and $75K, but the real savings here now amounts to very little. If it amounted to anything worth doing, they would have told you how much it would reduce our property taxes on average by showing us examples of how the so-called saving is figured using the average mil rate, but no, they throw out these big numbers using them as a smoke and mirrors game of flim-flam. Here are examples of just how much it will save us; If, for example, your town’s mill rate is .00945/$1,000 of valuation, then a $25,000 property valuation reduction equals a mere $236. Double that ($472) for a $50K reduction and triple it ($708) for a $75K reduction.,So, what we have here after it has max’d out is a mere $708 in actual reduction in property taxes. A year or so ago I put new tires on my truck to the tune of around $900, big deal on a $708 tax reduction, huh ? Heck, when the revaluation of my town was done 2 years ago, my property taxes jumped nearly $2,000 a year, in one felled swoop. I’m sure the next revaluation will be over $3,000 more, it would be a ZERO increase if the property tax freeze were still in place !! Thank you massers in Augusta, thank you, thank you thank you for my net loss UNDER YOUR LATEST TAX REDUCTION PROPOSAL of $1,300 a year (loss) in my property taxes, you are so very kind masser !! Apparently our legislature must think their subjects didn’t pay attention in math class, but some did and I was one of em !! This is nothing but a smoke and mirrors bunch of BS and Mainers need to wake up and see what is happening up there in Augusta welfare central ! Vote em out !!!
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As “Common Sense” points out, this reduction in our property tax bill is not much. It is likely that the demorat controlled Maine governance group will reduce it even more for those who might actually see some saving by arranging that the figures will be “means tested”. That way, those who have a decent income, and likely the higher property tax bills, will get little or none of the “new reduction”. Thus Governess Mills and the demorats will still have our money to spend on the 75,000 illegal aliens they are bringing into our state. “To each according to his need, from each according to his ability” Karl Marx.
It’s all smoke & mirrors! Augusta is out of control!! Maybe a forest fire will burn it all down… seeing as we’re headed the way California is