Maine Use Tax

[cjensen]

This was shocking to me as I read it! The little blurb below is from the current issue of the National Aircraft Resale Association-

The Maine Department of Revenue has developed an administrative position that states that if you fly in to their airports more than twenty times in any twelve month period, you will owe use tax on the full value of the aircraft without apportionment. This unapportioned use tax is imposed regardless of what percentage Maine presence represents of total flight time or landings. Maine's tax is generally imposed regardless of sales or use tax paid to other jurisdictions; therefore, it is not uncommon to find a taxpayer subject to multiple tax on the same aircraft.

HOLY FREAKIN' COW!!

What's up with you NEW ENGLANDER'S???

[edit] to correct my mistake of placing CJ in the wrong state...

[captain_john]

Chad, it seems that you people out in them square states know about as much about New England as we know about you!

I am from MASSACHUSETTS!!!

...you FLATLANDER!



Hahahaha, seriously though... good luck collecting it, huh?

CJ

[cjensen]

Oops! All you New Englanders are from the same place, aren't you? Maine, Mass, what's the dif? Sorry 'bout that dude! What airport is KPYM then?

Hey! I finally remembered the name of the town on New Hampshire we were trying to figure out the other day...Brookline.

[captain_john]

KPYM is Plymouth, MA... ya know, the place where the first Thanksgiving was? Where we officially ripped off the locals for the first time?



Isn't that timely, the holiday is right around the corner and we are discussing America's hometown!

The parade is this weekend and the local tribes always protest. I can't WAIT!

I do like living here, though.

Brookline, just west of Nashua!

I have passed through, but never had a reason for stopping.

Happy Thanksgiving!

CJ

[cjensen]

Yeah, I knew it was close to Nashua. I've been there too...I helped build a house there when I was in high school on a church youth group trip!



Happy Thanksgiving! I can't wait for next Thursday!

[RV7Factory]

Chad I think it may be time to replace your respirator's cartridges.

[cjensen]

The problem is probably the fact that I don't have a respirator!

[JohnR]

The Maine Department of Revenue has developed an administrative position that states that if you fly in to their airports more than twenty times in any twelve month period, you will owe use tax on the full value of the aircraft without apportionment. This unapportioned use tax is imposed regardless of what percentage Maine presence represents of total flight time or landings. Maine's tax is generally imposed regardless of sales or use tax paid to other jurisdictions; therefore, it is not uncommon to find a taxpayer subject to multiple tax on the same aircraft.

That sounds pretty nasty. Looks like they are implementing their own user fees so to speak. I hope other states don't pick up on it and try the same thing. Doesn't really sound legal to me.

[captain_john]

Well, they also do kinda the same thing with boats too.

If ya leave a boat in the water up there for longer than 30 days at a time, you need to register it in Maine.

When I take my boat up to Maine, I am only there for a week er too. Buuuut, when the plane is done, it'll likely stay up there all summer. Soooo, I guess I will have to yank it a few times a year to pressure wash it and avoid whatever they might impose on me otherwise!

It is better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission!

CJ

[prestwich]

When I take my boat up to Maine, I am only there for a week er too. Buuuut, when the plane is done, it'll likely stay up there all summer. Soooo, I guess I will have to yank it a few times a year to pressure wash it and avoid whatever they might impose on me otherwise!
CJ

Maybe there'll be a market for my new interchangeable N-number decals after all.

[aparchment]

This is what we get when we have an idiot for a governor. *sigh*

[RVNewsletter]

Being from Massachusetts originally, and still considering it my home, I suppose it's only natural for someone from Taxachusetts to rise up in defense of taxes. Yeah, yeah, I know there's wasteful spending and as soon as I get it under control in MY house...welll....

Seriously, though, in my current state -- Minnesota -- we have a terrific, if underfunded, aeronautics division of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. And thanks to them -- and also 1st dist. Rep. jim Oberstar -- we have REALLY nice airports.

Taxes on GA airplanes is a two-edged sword. We hate paying taxes, of course. On the othre hand, if it gives the state a reason to WANT to have GA aircraft around, I guess I'm all for that. And if some of the money goes to funding the quality of life, so much the better.

I hear AOPA talk all the time about all the money GA brings in to the economy. I don't believe it, but I hear them talk all the time like that when it comes to trying to save an airport. Taxes, I guess, are one of the things that makes that money begin to circulate.

I don't know specifically if the taxes referred to in Maine go into the general fund or specifically earmarked for airports. Either way, I'm betting there is some public good that comes out of it.

Hey, I see people paying $120 for a bucking bar, so I know you've got the cash.

[cjensen]

Hey, I see people paying $120 for a bucking bar, so I know you've got the cash.

The only reason I bought one is because if it works, I'll sell the rest of my steel ones to pay for it...

Seriously though, Bob, you make great points, and I do agree with you. It's just that a state requiring someone to pay tax on the full retail value of an airplane that is niether owned, nor based in the state seems awefully crook-ish

[RV7Factory]

I don't think anybody minds paying their fair share of taxes, but c'mon... who wants to pay the FULL use tax to more than one state???

I will end of paying 8.75% of the value of the parts purchased (or ~$5700 based on 65K) to the state of CA. Do you think I want to, or even should, pay another ~$5000 to the state of Arizona just because I will fly down there on a regular basis to visit friends and family? The state gets tax revenue from fuel sales and sale tax on purchases I make while visiting the state. If they want me to pay use tax too, the answer is simple, I just won't visit their state and they will loose out on the other revenue streams as well.

[captain_john]

Yah, yah, yah...

I am an educator and an Independent voter. I am NOT a Democrat OR a Republican. I hate them BOTH!

I pay PLENTY of taxes. I pay TOO MUCH TAXES!

I have a simple house and my property tax is $4,000 per year! We just got an override so that my local taxes now can exceed the 2 1/2% of my house value! That means that it will be pushing FIVE GRAND next year! For that money I DO NOT GET city water or sewage, trash disposal OR any downtown parking priviledges!

Sure, my school could always use more money, but so could most anyone I know. WE GET BY! I can't reach into YOUR pocket and pull out $120 for that nice bucking bar, nor should I be able to.

It kills me that my governement can and squanders money like it's not theirs!

...wait a minute, IT ISN'T!



Bob, this isn't aimed at you. I just went off on a tangient.

I do LOVE this country and this town! It is the way politicians do business that disturbs me!

CJ

[RVNewsletter]

Yah, yah, yah...
We just got an override so that my local taxes now can exceed the 2 1/2% of my house value!

For thoe who aren't familiar with the joys of Prop 2 1/2, an override is a tax increase that the voters approve.

I feel your pain. That's why i live in Minnesota and not Massachusetts. I'd go back and work there IN A SECOND..... Cape Cod? the North shore? The Berkshires? ( for you bostonians, that's the part of the state out near California!) boston? Fenway park? People who know how to talk right? Man, I sure miss that.

If only I could afford to buy a house there.

But, like I said, i feel your pain. My taxes here are going up 7% this year. ($250,000 valued house, $2500 in property taxes) Granted, I get a lot for that but I know a lot of people are hard-pressed to make ends meet on that which I gues sis why when someone suggest closing the municipal airport, a lot of folks nod their heads and say "yeah, please do."

You know, I've never owned an airplane before this one -- or what this will eventually be. Up to now, I've justified the expense as "a transfer of money" from one asset (a saving account) to another. I look at the future and I wonder whether -- long term -- I'm building something I won't be able to unload someday.

[RV7Factory]

The Berkshires? ( for you bostonians, that's the part of the state out near California!)

LOL! As a former Marblehead MA resident, all I can say is... Go Sox!

[RVNewsletter]

The Berkshires? ( for you bostonians, that's the part of the state out near California!)

LOL! As a former Marblehead MA resident, all I can say is... Go Sox!

the boys of half-a-summer.

[captain_john]

Now THAT'S funny!

CJ

[Thermos]

the boys of half-a-summer.

...snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!