By Abigail W. Adams
Whitefield selectmen held an informational hearing on the recently adopted personal property tax Tuesday, July 7. Residents George Hendsbee, Bud Bailey (left and second to left), and Marc Doyon (right) jokingly pretend to attack selectman Tony Marple following the meeting. (Abigail Adams photo) |
Approximately two months ago, over 50 residents packed into an informational hearing on Whitefield selectmen’s efforts to update the town’s personal property tax list.
The objections, concerns, and questions raised by residents prompted selectmen to form a committee to conduct a thorough review of the personal property tax and recommend a policy on how to apply the archaic law, which is not properly followed by any municipality in Maine, to Whitefield.
Less than 10 residents attended an information hearing held Tuesday, July 7 to explain the personal property tax policy adopted by selectmen approximately two weeks ago. The few residents that did attend reiterated much of the anger and many of the concerns expressed en masse by residents at the previous hearing.
After a full explanation of the policy and a preview of what the projected personal property tax would be for small farms and businesses because of the policy, some of the anger dissipated.
Concerns over the personal property tax, which according to the law, should be applied to both businesses and private residents, persisted with selectmen and residents alike expressing dissatisfaction with enforcing a tax law that can no longer be followed as written.
“It’s a racist law and it needs to go away,” Marc Doyon, a member of the personal property tax committee, said. According to Doyon, slave labor is taxable, according to the law as it is currently written. “There’s your hornet’s nest. Let’s take it and run with it.”
Selectmen’s decision to apply the personal property tax strictly to businesses continued to raise ire with residents. A farmer in attendance said it was discrimination to ask farmers to pay tax on their tractors while their neighbors’ expensive tractors went untaxed.
The personal property tax committee could not resolve the issue of who to apply the tax to. It is an issue the committee intends to revisit when it reconvenes in February to review the policy. Legislative reform also remains a long-range goal, selectmen said.
Selectmen’s initial intention in updating the personal property tax list was to resurrect a long-neglected source of revenue for the town and lower the mil rate to alleviate pressure on property owners.
With the exemptions and depreciation schedule contained in the town’s policy combined with a state exemption program, the actual revenue generated from the tax will be “a hill of beans,” Selectman Tony Marple said.
According to the new town policy, only equipment with a purchase value higher than $1,000 should be included on the survey. A $10,000 exemption will be applied to the aggregate purchase price of the equipment on the list.
An additional $10,000 exemption will be applied to non-motorized farming equipment used for the production of hay or field crops.
Equipment eligible for the state’s Business Equipment Tax Exemption program will not be taxed.
BETE-eligible equipment, however, should be listed on the personal property tax survey so a form can be sent to the state which will enable the town to receive a 50 percent reimbursement on the tax that would have otherwise been charged, Assessors’ Agent Tom Hayes said.
Equipment eligible for the Business Equipment Tax Reimbursement program will be taxed, but residents who pay tax on the equipment are eligible for a 50 percent refund, Hayes said. As part of the policy recommended by the committee, the town office will assist residents in completing the paperwork associated with the programs.
The depreciation schedule recommended by the committee and adopted by selectmen greatly reduced the personal property tax for businesses and farmers. The depreciation schedule Whitefield will use bottoms out after seven years to 10 percent of the equipment’s purchase price.
Selectmen presented a mock calculation of the tax from a personal property survey with 10 items listed on it. The items had prices ranging from $2,100 to $146,500 and were bought between 1999 and 2015.
The personal property tax after the exemptions and depreciation schedule were applied was $170. Prior to the policy, that figure was $1,700, Marple said. “Selectmen didn’t have to listen to the committee,” committee member Dan Joslyn said, “but they did and we got a better rate.”
“I’ve lost sleep over this,” hay farmer George Hendsbee said. “I came so close to saying, ‘To hell with this, I’m going out of business.”
After the meeting, Hendsbee said some of his concerns about the tax were addressed. Hendsbee, however, said he was
worried the policy would be revised in the future and he would be slammed with a hefty tax bill in coming years.
While revenue raised by the personal property tax may be nominal, updating the out-of-date personal property tax list is a matter of fairness, Marple said, with the tax list so out of date some people were paying it even though they no longer had active businesses.
Disagreement on the select board continued over the personal property tax policy, which passed in a 3-2 vote. The opposing votes were for different reasons, Selectman Lester Sheaffer said.
Sheaffer said he is opposed to the personal property tax in its entirety. Selectman Dennis Merrill voted against the policy because he felt the policy prevents the town from bringing in enough revenue to reduce the burden on property owners.
The deadline for completing and returning the personal property tax survey to the town office is Friday, July 10. The personal property tax committee remains a standing committee and intends to reconvene to review the policy in February and continue to advise selectmen about the tax’s application in Whitefield.