An Act To Provide Tax Relief for Maine's Citizens by Reducing Income Taxes
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 0849
Committee Amendment CA_C-HA_B_H808 (House)

HOUSE AMENDMENT "]3,, to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "C" to S.P. 252, 
L.D. 849, Bill, "An Act To Provide Tax Relief for Maine's Citizens by Reducing Income 
Taxes" 
Amend the amendment in section 1 in § 1518-A by striking out all of subsections I 
and I-A (page 1, lines 16 to 35 and page 2 lines 1 to 7 in amendment) and inserting the 
following: 
'1. Tax Relief Fund for Maine Residents. There is created the Tax Relief Fund for 
Maine Residents, referred to in this section as "the fund," which must be used to provide 
tax relief to residents of the State. The fund consists of all resources transferred to the 
fund under subsection 4 and section 1536 and other resources made available to the fund. 
A. The fund must be used first to provide property tax relief by ensuring sufficient 
funding to meet the following standards in order of priority: 
(1) 
To maintain benefits under the Circuitbreaker Program under Title 36, 
chapter 907 at the full amount calculated under Title 36, section 6207, subsection 
1, paragraph A-I without any reduction; 
(2) To maintain sufficient funding under the state-municipal revenue sharing 
program to provide the full transfer to the Local Government Fund required 
under Title 30-A, section 5681, subsection 5 for distribution to municipalities 
without any reduction; and 
(3) To ensure that the state share percentage of the total cost of funding public 
education from kindergarten to grade 12 including the cost of the components of 
essential programs and services under Title 20-A, chapter 606-B plus the state 
contributions to teacher retirement, retired teachers' health insurance and retired 
teachers' life insurance is 55%. 
B. 
If the State Controller certifies that funding levels are adequate to meet the 
standards under paragraph A, the amount available in the fund must be used to 
reduce the individual income tax rates to 4% as provided in subsection I-A. 
The State Controller shall at the close of each fiscal year report to the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over appropriations and financial affairs 
the amount in the fund, the amounts necessary to meet the standards of paragraph A and 
HOUSE AMENDMENT 
HOUSE AMENDMENT "13,, to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "C" to S.P. 252, L.D. 849 
I 
the amount available for paragraph B. The committee may submit legislation to the next 
regular or special session of the Legislature allocating amounts from the fund to meet the 
standards specified in paragraph A. 
i-A. Implementation. By September 1, 2014 and annually thereafter, the State 
Controller shall certify whether the provisions of subsection 1, paragraph A have been 
met and inform the State Tax Assessor of the amount available in the fund for the 
purposes of subsection 1, paragraph B after reductions of amounts necessary to meet the 
standards of subsection 1, paragraph A. 
A. By November 1st annually, the State Tax Assessor shall calculate the amount by 
which the income tax rates under Title 36, section 5111, subsections l-C, 2-C and 
3-C may be reduced during the subsequent tax year using the amount available from 
the fund after reductions for the purposes of subsection 1, paragraph A. Bracket rate 
reductions must be a minimum of 0.2 percentage points in the first year in which 
reductions are made and a minimum of 0.1 percentage points in subsequent years. If 
sufficient funds are not available to pay for the minimum reduction, a rate reduction 
may not be made until the amount available in the fund is sufficient to pay for the 
reduction. When the amount available is sufficient to pay for the reduction, the 
reduction must first be applied equally to each bracket under Title 36, section 5111, 
subsections l-C, 2-C and 3-C until the lower bracket reaches 4%. Funds available 
from the fund in subsequent years must be applied to reduce the higher bracket rates 
until there is a single bracket with a rate of 4%, after which future tax relief may be 
identified. 
B. The State Tax Assessor shall provide public notice of new bracket rates calculated 
under this subsection by November 15th annually. 
C. New bracket rates calculated under this subsection apply beginning with tax years 
that begin on or after January 1st of the calendar year following the determinations 
made under this subsection.' 
SUMMARY 
This amendment provides that the first priority for expenditure of funds from the Tax 
Relief Fund for Maine Residents is property tax relief through maintenance of full 
funding for the Circuitbreaker Program, state-municipal revenue sharing and the 55% 
state share target for funding of kindergarten to grade 12 public education. The 2nd 
priority is income tax redu~_ 
......... 
SPONSORED BY: ---' ....... ,....£-~"--'-----.t'''---~---t----:;--
TOWN: Bowdoinham 
FISCAL ~()TE REQUIRED 
(Stt attached) 
HOUSE AMENDMENT 
Approved: 03/13/12 
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LD849 
LR 149(11) 
An Act To Provide Tax Relief for Maine's Citizens by Reducing Income Taxes 
Fiscal Note for House Amendment "13,, to Committee Amendment "C" 
Sponsor: Rep. Berry of Bowdoinham 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Potential future biennium cost increase - General Fund 
Potential future biennium revenue decrease - General Fund 
The amendment adds property tax relief as the first pupose of the bill. Based on currently budgeted revenue, no 
transfers of General Fund revenue in excess of the appropriation limitation are expected through the end of fiscal year 
2014-15. If actual revenue in these or later fiscal years exceeds budgeted revenue, leaving an excess for year-end 
distribution to the Fund, the balance, when sufficient, would be used for the folowing initiatives (in order): fully fund 
the Circuitbreaker Program, restore revenue sharing to 5%, fund General Purpose Assistance at 55%, and then to 
replace the revenues that would be lost by reducing individual income tax rates. The amount of rate reduction that 
would occur in any tax year is to be determined solely by reference to the balance of the Fund and the revenue that 
would be lost by any rate reduction effective for the following tax year. Since the funding for the rate reduction is non-
recurring and the rate reductions permanent, it is possible that the bill could result in significantly reduced revenues 
for all years following the implementation of a tax rate reduction. 
LROI49(11) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 1