Posted inLewiston-Auburn

Tax prep program kicking off for 2014

LEWISTON — This year’s Twin Cities’ income tax filing support program will focus on financial literacy as much as filling out the right forms. City officials kicked off Take the Money; You’ve Earned on Tuesday morning in Lewiston City Hall. Volunteers from the Lewiston-Auburn CA$H Coalition will help low- or moderate-income residents with tax forms […]

Posted inMaine, sj-web

LePage says Maine must find $119 million to balance budget

AUGUSTA — Republican and House Minority Leader Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport, said late Monday afternoon that new data show a general fund revenue shortfall of $119 million in the two-year budget that started July 1, 2013, and ends June 30, 2015. The Department of Health and Human Services accounts for the vast majority of the shortfall. […]

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Posted inMaine, sj-web

Maine mistakenly mails 1,000 tax warnings

AUGUSTA — The state of Maine has mailed erroneous tax warnings to 1,000 Maine residents, demanding immediate payment for income taxes, penalties and interest. The letters threatened to garnish recipients’ wages or seize of their property if payments were not made. David Heidrich from the Department of Administrative and Financial Services tells the Portland Press […]

Posted inMaine, sj-web

Task force drops proposed amusement tax, submits new plan targeting business tax breaks

AUGUSTA — The panel charged with reducing or eliminating $40 million in tax breaks to prevent further cuts to revenue sharing put forward a plan Monday that may fall short of meeting that goal. Gone from the plan are proposals floated last week to tax entertainment, recreation and personal care services, which were deemed too […]

Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Oxford Hills

Quarterly taxes keep Paris solvent

PARIS — Six months ago, voters approved a change in the town’s tax collection, shifting from biannual to quarterly payment in an effort to improve the town’s cash flow.  So far, the plan appears to have worked. According to Town Manager Amy Bernard, the town has roughly $1.3 million in cash on hand, enough to keep […]

Posted inLetters

E. Field: Wrong priorities

Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed a proposed cut of $40 billion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) covering the next 10 years, cuts that would affect about 4 million working Americans, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The same bill gives huge subsidies to billionaire farmers. According […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

Bath residents organize effort to oppose BIW tax breaks

BATH — Some Bath residents object to a proposed tax rebate for a major expansion of Bath Iron Works, saying the subsidy is corporate welfare and BIW will expand whether or not it gets a tax break. BIW officials say if the proposed tax break is denied, they might not be able to expand, putting […]

Posted insj-web

Former N.H. House Speaker says Maine fell behind because of taxes

SOUTH PORTLAND — Former New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien told a South Portland audience Friday afternoon Maine lost its economic edge over his state after World War II, when it added cumbersome taxes and watched as the Granite State passed it by. O’Brien’s appearance as the keynote speaker for the conservative Maine Heritage Policy […]

Posted inMaine, sj-web

Chapter 4: LePage targets the income tax rate

The left, the right and just about everyone in-between has long agreed on one thing about Maine’s taxes — the income tax had to be fixed. The main problem with it was that it treated working people like they were rich. The top 8.5 percent tax rate kicked in at an income level of $19,500. […]

Posted inMaine, sj-web

Maine tax climate improves in Tax Foundation ranking

The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation ranked all 50 states for its 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index, which synthesizes data on more than 100 tax provisions in each state into an easy-to-use index score. Maine’s 29th ranking is a slight improvement from the foundation’s 2013 report, released last October, in which the state ranked 30th. Maine’s overall […]