I’ve been a Portland newspaper reader for over 30 years, and for the first time I came across a statistic that is essential for Mainers (and I’ll be honest, I may have missed it before). In Sunday’s “Our View” column, they said, “Tourists pumped $16.4 billion into Maine’s economy, lowering Maine households’ taxes by $2,467.” The statistic I’d never seen before was the tax reduction per household.
Actually, I moved to Maine from Florida. I don’t pay state income tax because Florida is so good at squeezing taxes out of tourists. State income tax comes from extremely high rental car taxes, airport taxes, hotel taxes, theme park/resort taxes, state park/beach fees (which are much cheaper for residents), etc. They also offer huge property tax discounts for year-round residents.
Let’s get creative. We could raise our gas tax from May to October and lower it by the same amount from November to April. Maine residents would pay the same amount all year, but summer tourists would pay extra for road use.
Whenever we hear of a proposal like this in Maine, our tourism industry screams that fewer people will vacation in Maine. Spoiler alert: no one checks the hotel tax rate before booking a vacation in Maine. So let’s be smart and collect a little more from tourists and pass the savings on to our residents.
Andy Wright
Falmouth
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