Even as Gov. Paul LePage continues his crusade against land trusts, a new report by a bipartisan group of lawmakers finds that these groups contribute a lot to the state, including tax dollars.
The governor has long been critical of land conservation. He devoted a large portion of his last State of the State address, which he delivered last month, to his false notion that land trusts are driving up local property taxes. He made the same claims while addressing the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
“The real culprit is the tremendous amount of land and property value we’ve allowed to be taken off our tax rolls, leaving homeowners to pick up the tab,” LePage said in his address to the Legislature.
He then mixed and matched a lot of numbers as he tried to lay the blame on land trusts. For example, he talked about “conservation land ownership” and in the next sentence said Maine’s property tax exemptions add up to $18 billion worth. Most of the state’s tax exempt land has nothing to do with land conservation. The state and federal government own most of Maine’s tax exempt land — about $10 billion worth. Another large chunk is owned by colleges, universities and hospitals. The amount of tax exempt land in Maine has actually dropped slightly in the last decade.
A report from the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, which was required as part of the state budget, shines light on the fallacy of LePage’s attacks.
Non-profit conservation groups, including land trusts hold about 2.5 million acres in Maine, through both direct ownership and easements. Nearly all of this land — 94.5 percent — is on the tax rolls. The owners make payments in lieu of taxes on another 4 percent of this conserved land.
Beyond these monetary payments, conservation groups contribute to Maine in ways that are harder to quantify, the committee said in its report. For example, these lands draw visitors, boosting Maine’s tourism economy. They do so because Maine’s conserved lands are home to more than 1,200 miles of hiking trails, nearly 600 miles of snowmobile trails, nearly 350 miles of ATV trails and 275 miles of biking trails. They also cover more than 200 beaches and swimming areas as well as more than 200 boat launch sites. Ninety percent of the conserved land is open to hunting.
People also work on conserved lands. Eighty-five percent of Maine’s conserved land is working forest, which means it supports loggers, truckers, mill workers and others. The Downeast Lakes Land Trust, for example, manages more than 55,000 acres of forestland in northern Washington County that supports 170 jobs. Land trusts have also conserved farmland and working waterfronts and access for clammers, wormers and other marine harvesters.
“For these reasons and more, the ACF Committee finds that nonprofit conservation organizations provide a great value to the residents of Maine,” the lawmakers said in their report.
The committee did recommend that the Legislature review tax breaks, such as Tree Growth and Working Waterfront, with an eye toward requiring public access to land that is covered by such programs that reduce tax payments.
The ACF Committee’s work should put an end to LePage’s false claims that land trusts and conserved lands are a detriment to Maine and its taxpayers. This report shows clearly that they are not.
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