Opinion ID: 2106518
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Augusta Formula and The Maine Tax Statutes

Text: Du Pont claims that the Assessor's use of the worldwide combined reporting method violates the second sentence of 36 M.R.S.A. § 5244. [6] In support of this position, Du Pont refers to portions of the legislative record in which legislators debated the passage of An Act Providing for the Administrative Changes in Maine Tax Law. As indicated by its title, this Act was an omnibus law that enacted over twenty alterations to Maine's tax laws. See P.L.1983, ch. 571 (effective September 23, 1983). Included among its many sections was a provision that explicitly authorized the tax assessor to use combined or unitary reporting as a means of apportioning a multijurisdictional corporation's income. Id. § 17. The adoption of this method of apportionment dominated the legislative debate. 2 Legis.Rec. 1346-47, 1357-58 (1983). There is no indication in the legislative record that any of these provisions, including the amendment relied on by Du Pont, [7] precluded the Assessor from resorting to the worldwide combined reporting method pursuant to the equitable apportionment provision of 36 M.R.S.A. § 5211(17). [8] In fact, the legislative history of section 5244 supports the converse of Du Pont's contention. Section 5244 was adopted as part of An Act to Limit Preferential Taxation Within a Unitary Business. L.D. 1764 (112th Legis.1986). The bill's statement of fact states in pertinent part that [t]he bill... clarifies the reporting requirements of corporations engaged in a unitary business. L.D. 1764, Statement of Fact (112th Legis.1986) (emphasis added). Additionally, section 5244 appears in that chapter of the Maine Tax Statutes sub-headed Information Returns. Section headings in a statute may serve as an intrinsic aid to interpreting a statute and ascertaining the intention of the Legislature. See SUTHERLAND STAT. CONST. §§ 47.03, 47.14 (1992). Section 5244's legislative history and its appearance in the statutory chapter dedicated to the general and specific requirements for reporting of income belie the broader significance which Du Pont attempts to assign to this provision. Section 5244 simply sets forth the type of information that a corporation must provide on its combined report and does not limit the information that the Assessor may consider in determining appropriate factor relief for a corporation that claims its business activity was not accurately reflected by the standard three factor formula.