An Act To Improve Camping Opportunities in Maine by Exempting Certain Campground Rental Fees from the Sales and Use Tax
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1261
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: HEPLER, PARRY, WILLIAMS
Amends: 23 MRSA §1912-C, 36 MRSA §1752, 36 MRSA §1760, 36 MRSA §1764, 36 MRSA §1811

Legislative Document
No. 1261
H.P. 928
House of Representatives, March 26, 2021
An Act To Improve Camping Opportunities in Maine by Exempting 
Certain Campground Rental Fees from the Sales and Use Tax
Received by the Clerk of the House on March 24, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Taxation pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative HEPLER of Woolwich.
Cosponsored by Representatives: PARRY of Arundel, WILLIAMS of Bar Harbor.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  23 MRSA §1912-C, sub-§5, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2013, c. 549, §3, is 
amended by amending subparagraph (3) to read:
(3)  Have generated at least 1% of the State's total sales subject to the taxes under 
Title 36, section 1811 on the value of liquor sold in licensed establishments as 
defined in Title 28‑A, section 2, subsection 15, prepared food and rental of living 
quarters in any hotel, rooming house or tourist or trailer camp campground over 
the previous 3 years and must offer recreational opportunities of sufficient traffic 
significance to warrant signs in accordance with criteria developed by the signing 
agency;
Sec. 2.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§1-K is enacted to read:
1-K.  Campground.  "Campground" has the same meaning as in Title 22, section 2491, 
subsection 1.
Sec. 3.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§11-B, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 375, Pt. A, §1, is 
amended to read:
11-B.  Room remarketer.  "Room remarketer" means a person who reserves, arranges 
for, offers, furnishes or collects or receives consideration for the rental of living quarters in 
this State, whether directly or indirectly, pursuant to a written or other agreement with the 
owner, manager or operator of a hotel, rooming house or tourist or trailer camp 
campground.
Sec. 4.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§17-B, as amended by PL 2013, c. 156, §2, is further 
amended to read:
17-B.  Taxable service.  "Taxable service" means the rental of living quarters in a 
hotel, rooming house or tourist or trailer camp campground; the transmission and 
distribution of electricity; the rental or lease of an automobile, a camper trailer, or a motor 
home, as defined in Title 29‑A, section 101, subsection 40; the rental or lease of a pickup 
truck or van with a gross vehicle weight of less than 26,000 pounds from a person primarily 
engaged in the business of renting automobiles; the sale of an extended service contract on 
an automobile or truck that entitles the purchaser to specific benefits in the service of the 
automobile or truck for a specific duration; and the sale of prepaid calling service.
Sec. 5.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§19 is repealed.
Sec. 6.  36 MRSA §1752, sub-§20, as amended by PL 2007, c. 627, §44, is repealed.
Sec. 7.  36 MRSA §1760, sub-§20, as repealed and replaced by PL 2017, c. 170, 
Pt. C, §5, is repealed.
Sec. 8.  36 MRSA §1760, sub-§20-A is enacted to read:
20-A.  Continuous residence; refunds and credits.  Rental charged to any person 
who resides continuously for 28 days or more at:
A.  Any one hotel or rooming house if:
(1)  The person does not maintain a primary residence at some other location; or
(2)  The person is residing away from that person's primary residence in connection 
with employment or education; or
B.  Any one campground.
Tax paid by such a person to the retailer under section 1812 during the initial 28-day period 
must be refunded by the retailer. If the tax has been reported and paid to the State by the 
retailer, it may be taken as a credit by the retailer on the return filed by the retailer covering 
the month in which the refund was made to the person.
Sec. 9.  36 MRSA §1760, sub-§96 is enacted to read:
96.  Campgrounds.  The rental of a site at a campground as long as nothing else of 
value is provided by the owner of the campground to the renter.
Sec. 10.  36 MRSA §1764, as amended by PL 2015, c. 300, Pt. A, §24, is further 
amended to read:
§1764.  Tax against certain casual sales
The tax imposed by this Part must be levied upon all casual rentals of living quarters 
in a hotel, rooming house, tourist camp or trailer camp or campground and upon all casual 
sales involving the sale of trailers, truck campers, motor vehicles, special mobile 
equipment, watercraft or aircraft unless the property is sold for resale at retail sale or to a 
corporation, partnership, trust, limited liability company or limited liability partnership 
when the seller is the owner of 50% or more of the common stock of the corporation or of 
the ownership interests in the partnership, trust, limited liability company or limited 
liability partnership.  This section does not apply to the rental of living quarters rented for 
a total of fewer than 15 days in the calendar year, except that a person who owns and offers 
for rental more than one property in the State during the calendar year is liable for collecting 
sales tax with respect to the rental of each unit regardless of the number of days for which 
it is rented.  For purposes of this section, "special mobile equipment" does not include farm 
tractors and lumber harvesting vehicles or loaders.
Sec. 11.  36 MRSA §1811, sub-§1, ¶A, as amended by PL 2019, c. 607, Pt. B, §2, 
is further amended by amending subparagraph (3) to read:
(3)  Eight percent on the value of rental of living quarters in any hotel, rooming 
house or tourist or trailer camp campground; and
Sec. 12.  Effective date. This Act takes effect October 1, 2021.
SUMMARY
This bill repeals the definitions of "tourist camp" and "trailer camp" and replaces those 
terms with the term "campground" in the sales and use tax law.  This bill exempts from 
sales and use tax rental fees charged to a person who resides for 28 days or longer at one 
campground.  This bill also exempts from the sales and use tax the rental of a site at a 
campground regardless of the number of days of residence as long as nothing else of value 
is provided by the owner of that campground to the renter.