Victor Bourre worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard which is in Maine.

DOVER, N.H. (AP) – Victor Bourre’s battle with Maine to avoid paying $18,366 in back taxes – because he says he didn’t earn the money in Maine – has taken a setback.

Strafford County Superior Court Judge Bruce Mohl granted Maine’s Bureau of Revenue petition for attachment and denied Bourre’s motion to dismiss the case.

A retired Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employee, Bourre, of Dover, has contended that the shipyard is in Portsmouth, not Kittery, thus precluding him from being subjected to Maine income tax.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the yard, on Seavey Island in the Piscataqua River that separates the two states, is in Maine. Bourre also argued that New Hampshire law prohibits Maine from bringing a successful action against him.

The statute reads, “The state of New Hampshire does not permit the enforcement of any judgment of any court, of a judgment debtor, where the judgment is in favor of any state for the failure to pay that state’s income tax with respect to income earned by any employee at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.”

But Mohl ruled that the law violates the full faith and credit clause of the federal Constitution. A defiant Bourre said Monday that Mohl “overextended his judicial authority” by declaring the law unconstitutional. “A superior court judge is not empowered to overturn a public act of a state. Only the Legislature can do that. Either the law is good or it isn’t, and as a citizen, I demand it be recognized,” he said.

Bourre, who has 10 days to file for reconsideration and 30 days for an appeal, said he will do neither.

“I don’t have to do anything at this point. In order for the state of Maine to take action, the judge would have to execute a writ for collection, and under New Hampshire law, he can’t,” he said.

AP-ES-04-05-04 1932EDT