BANGOR, Maine — Members of the City Council’s Finance Committee generally agreed Monday that a local option sales tax could be the right thing for local property taxpayers.
They also agreed the probability of successfully lobbying state Legislature to allow it this year was slim, and bringing the idea to fruition is possibly years away.
Councilor Ben Sprague, who proposed the additional tax as a means of replacing waning revenue sharing dollars from the state, resisted drafting a resolution asking the Legislature to allow communities to levy their own sales taxes.
“We can take this back up at a future Finance Committee and maybe a letter can be drafted, but … I think there’s a lot of value in just having the discussion so we can talk about an option that is perhaps years down the road at this point,” he said.
Sprague told the committee he will advocate for the plan on his own, talking to lawmakers individually and attempting to testify in Augusta if possible.
The proposal received favorable response from most committee members, with Council Chairman Nelson Durgin calling it “a very noble idea.” Councilor Joe Baldacci said it needed to be moved forward “because we’ve been stuck in an 18th century tax system for too long.”
“If the governor is going to take our fair share of revenue that we generate in the city … we’re going to have to do something to subsidize that,” said Councilor Patricia Blanchette.
Meanwhile, Councilor Pauline Civiello said she would only support taxing lodging, entertainment and restaurants, and Councilor Gibran Graham raised concerns that the separate local tax could be burden on small businesses, adding that he could see himself supporting it.
Sprague pitched the plan as a means to reduce the tax burden on Bangor property taxpayers by levying a sales tax so that visitors who enjoy city services provide some of the revenue.
He calculated that a 0.31 percent local tax would generate the approximately $5 million the city used to get in revenue sharing.
“Let’s not pretend that if they hold it where it was last year, it’s some blessing for us. It’s already been cut 60 percent with $3 million less than where we should be,” Sprague said.
Most of the councilors acknowledged a local option sales tax is unlikely to happen in the near future.
“This is not a popular subject for the current administration in Augusta,” Durgin said.
Baldacci said the lawmakers from rural communities continue to successfully block passage of a local option sales tax.
“If we don’t keep hammering at it, it will never happen, and Bangor taxpayers are going to be the ones that are going to suffer,” Blanchettes said.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.