Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree acknowledged this week that her plan to let towns tax out-of-state homeowners at higher rates will likely require amending the Maine Constitution, and she’s betting that debate can end in a bipartisan product.
The Maine Constitution requires all property to be taxed equally according to its true value, regardless of whether it’s a primary home, a wealthy non-resident’s second home or a business. Changing the constitution, which demands a two-thirds vote of both legislative chambers that Republicans will likely be able to block, is the biggest obstacle to Pingree’s proposal.
It puts Pingree, the prohibitive frontrunner in the race to succeed Gov. Janet Mills, in an early and uphill effort to enact major change on a thorny subject. A steep pandemic-era rise in housing prices has prompted tax revolts in communities of all sizes over the past few years.
“Our goal is to export more of the tax burden to out-of-state visitors and non-resident second home owners, both to fund infrastructure and to bring relief to year-round residents,” Pingree said Wednesday. “Given how much frustration there is around property taxes right now, we see [a constitutional amendment] as a real chance for bipartisan work rather than a fight.”
The Legislature’s property tax task force gave the idea a cooler reception than other fixes when it reviewed options this summer, leaving it for further study while staff fleshed out firmer proposals on the homestead exemption and the Property Tax Fairness Credit.
At a Tuesday meeting, a state tax official told lawmakers that the constitutional language expressly prohibits almost any way to accomplish Pingree’s goal, including regimes like Rhode Island’s “Taylor Swift” tax on empty vacation homes or a Utah law that taxes homes on a fraction of their value while businesses pay on the full amount.
“It’s very hard to get lawyers to give unconditional answers,” Dan Pittman, a Maine Revenue Services lawyer, said. “But this is as close as we can come to an unconditional. That’s not permitted under Maine’s constitution.”
Pingree said her team has studied workarounds in New York, South Carolina and Rhode Island, arguing the “key is designing something that fits Maine’s constitution from the start so we’re not stuck defending in court later.”
She first staked out the strategy during the primary, when she and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows argued for pursuing the amendment rather than abandoning the idea, as some rivals urged at the time. Pingree is favored in the November race, with the prediction market Kalshi putting her chances of winning above 90% since July.
But her rivals have also made affordable housing and tax relief central to their bids. Independent state Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford wants an income-based property tax cap modeled on Vermont’s and would apply the fairness credit directly to tax bills rather than making families wait for a refund.
Both Bennett and Republican Bobby Charles want to push the homestead exemption further than Pingree’s proposed doubling and end unfunded state mandates on municipalities. Charles often highlights bloated education and administrative spending and unfunded mandates.
Bennett said he understands the appeal of taxing second-home owners for Mainers who’ve watched out-of-state money price them out of coastal and lakefront communities. But he said Pingree’s approach would mean years of litigation without lowering anyone’s tax bill.
“Mainers don’t need a years-long fight over who else we can tax,” he said Wednesday. “They need their bill to go down.”