Fellow Mainers: Do You Feel That Maine Is Becoming A "Nanny State?" (Bangor: mobile home, casino)

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by reloop

Yes it's personal property tax. I believe (could be wrong - wouldn't be the first time) that it's a law that towns have had on the books for a long time - it just wasn't "enforced" ...

I have to "amend" this as I believe that the law only pertains to those who operate "small" businesses. The corporations who send our money to their corporate offices in another state? I'll reserve my comment about how much I think that they have to claim for tax purposes relative to what small businesses in Maine have to pay, so we don't get off the topic again.

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by reloop

I have to "amend" this as I believe that the law only pertains to those who operate "small" businesses. The corporations who send our money to their corporate offices in another state? I'll reserve my comment about how much I think that they have to claim for tax purposes relative to what small businesses in Maine have to pay, so we don't get off the topic again.

No, the large corps get a per. prop tax too. That's where the largest amount comes from for a town in this type. The small businesses get attached as there should be equity on all business. Computers, copiers, fish pens (big one here) stuff like that. Last year in town P/P tax was worth $100,000+ in tax.

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

Getting a permit to burn brush from my standpoint is foolish but the permit doesn't cost anything at least. Just time to go get it. Then again mine is just a small pile, scrap and broken limbs. Then you think about the huge piles you see in the field from clearing and you wonder if they plan to burn the fields clear.

IMO, it is foolish for most people that have a brain. I'd like to think most Mainers are smart enough to know how/ when and where to burn. But once in a while you do run across someone who does let the brush pile get out of control, and the FD has to come in to make sure the guy doesn't take out the whole neighborhood.

The time involved to go get it is the biggest pain in the world. Normally the town office hours are limited. The town fire warden isn't 'available'.
We obviously don't bother getting a permit out on the island. We don't even have as much as a constable any more. Most people pile up their brush throughout the summer and all burning is being down now. As we speak, actually.

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by reloop

I have to "amend" this as I believe that the law only pertains to those who operate "small" businesses. The corporations who send our money to their corporate offices in another state? I'll reserve my comment about how much I think that they have to claim for tax purposes relative to what small businesses in Maine have to pay, so we don't get off the topic again.

Actually we received one of those forms in the mail a few years ago in Harpswell. The town wanted to know the value of the boats, sleds and riding mower and tractor we had sitting out behind the garage. The form went in the trash. We paid the sales tax on them, we paid to register them and we paid to insure the ones that required insurance. They weren't being used for our business, they were for personal use. IMO, it wasn't any of the towns business what the value was on them. Personal property tax is a joke. We never heard back from them regarding the form therefore I'm not sure how enforceable it is.

[boonelsewhere]

Personal Property TAX is just addition perper work, hope it will be things in the past soon. i paid $ 18.00 to register the utility trailer to DMV, $6.40 for PPT to the county, 2 record keeping and i have to write 2 checks, they could have charge $ 24.40 at register, save time on record keeping.

Originally Posted by island mermaid

Actually we received one of those forms in the mail a few years ago in Harpswell. The town wanted to know the value of the boats, sleds and riding mower and tractor we had sitting out behind the garage. The form went in the trash. We paid the sales tax on them, we paid to register them and we paid to insure the ones that required insurance. They weren't being used for our business, they were for personal use. IMO, it wasn't any of the towns business what the value was on them. Personal property tax is a joke. We never heard back from them regarding the form therefore I'm not sure how enforceable it is.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

No, the large corps get a per. prop tax too. That's where the largest amount comes from for a town in this type. The small businesses get attached as there should be equity on all business. Computers, copiers, fish pens (big one here) stuff like that. Last year in town P/P tax was worth $100,000+ in tax.

Thanks for setting me straight!

[BoundtofindME]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

Anyone see in the Tides where someone wants a dog barking ordinance with fines?.

We already have one where I live.

[BacktoNE]

Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredtinbender
Anyone see in the Tides where someone wants a dog barking ordinance with fines?.

Posted by BoundtofindME
We already have one where I live.

A lot of towns have those ordinances on the books and they are enforced. Thank goodness. I love dogs, but a quiet dog is a good thing when you live in a neighborhood.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

Isn't that due to the socialistic form of government?

Originally Posted by reloop

I'd have to say yes, when you get right down to it.

Sorry, but no. The European countries that so many Americans love to deem as socialists are just about as socialists as America was....during the Reagan and Bush years.

[corgis]

I don't see the Granny laws in Maine that you all have written about on here to be nearly as restrictive as where I am now and that's one of the reasons we'll be living in Maine soon.

We have property tax on everything - vehicles, animals, any and all watercraft, travel trailers, mobile homes, snowblowers, farm equipment including tractors, bulldozers, harvesting equipment, property additions like sheds or generator houses. Our outdoor burning ban is in force for months at a time. There is a total non-smoking ban within 50 feet of any public building including bars, gambling establishments, race tracks, etc. Here you can be fined is your snow is not removed from public sidewalks in front of your property within 4 hours of the end of the snowstorm. Then theres the bans on loud noises after 7PM, barking dogs ban, release of any chemical component into the air, bans on loud or missing mufflers on public streets, jaywalking, bicycling on sidewalks, skate boarding on city streets or sidewalks and it goes on and on.

And don't get me started on the dreaded user fees for the right to work in the cities here, that's a weekly fee for that right.

No, I see Maine's granny laws as far more lenient.