October 17, 2018

Maine: Who Pays? 6th Edition

MAINE

MAINE STATE AND LOCAL TAXES

Taxes as Share of Family Income

					Top 20%
Income Group	Lowest 20%	Second 20%	Middle 20%	Fourth 20%	Next 15%	Next 4%	Top 1%
Income Range	Less than $19,700	$19,700 to $35,800	$35,800 to $56,100	$56,100 to $91,000	$91,000 to $185,500	$185,500 to $434,500	over $434,500
Average Income	$11,500	$27,700	$44,900	$72,000	$126,700	$265,000	$877,200
Sales & Excise Taxes	6.1%	5.2%	4.1%	3.5%	2.7%	1.6%	0.7%
General Sales – Individuals	2.6%	2.5%	2.2%	1.9%	1.5%	0.9%	0.4%
Other Sales & Excise – Ind.	1.8%	1.2%	0.8%	0.7%	0.5%	0.2%	0.1%
Sales & Excise on Business	1.7%	1.4%	1.1%	0.9%	0.7%	0.4%	0.2%
Property Taxes	4.2%	2.8%	3.6%	3.3%	3.7%	3.1%	2.3%
Home, Rent, Car – Ind.	4.0%	2.6%	3.3%	2.9%	3.3%	2.3%	0.9%
Other Property Taxes	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.8%	1.4%
Income Taxes	-1.6%	0.6%	1.9%	2.7%	3.5%	4.9%	5.5%
Personal Income Tax	-1.6%	0.6%	1.9%	2.7%	3.5%	4.8%	5.4%
Corporate Income Tax	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%
TOTAL TAXES	8.7%	8.6%	9.6%	9.4%	9.9%	9.5%	8.6%

Individual figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. Download the table

TAX FEATURES DRIVING THE DATA in Maine

Progressive Features	Regressive Features
Graduated personal income tax structure Provides a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Provides a targeted, refundable sales tax credit Provides a refundable dependent care tax credit Provides a refundable property tax “circuit breaker” credit via the personal income tax Eliminates itemized deductions for upper-income taxpayers Sales tax base excludes groceries Requires the use of combined reporting for the corporate income tax High standard deduction with phase-out for upper-income taxpayers Levies a state estate tax	Comparatively low EITC

Progressive Features

Regressive Features

Graduated personal income tax structure
Provides a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Provides a targeted, refundable sales tax credit
Provides a refundable dependent care tax credit
Provides a refundable property tax “circuit breaker” credit via the personal income tax
Eliminates itemized deductions for upper-income taxpayers
Sales tax base excludes groceries
Requires the use of combined reporting for the corporate income tax
High standard deduction with phase-out for upper-income taxpayers
Levies a state estate tax

Comparatively low EITC

ITEP Tax Inequality Index

According to ITEP’s Tax Inequality Index, which measures the impact of each state’s tax system on income inequality, Maine has the 45th most unfair state and local tax system in the country. Incomes are more unequal in Maine after state and local taxes are collected than before. (See Appendix B for state-by-state rankings and the methodology section for additional detail on the index.)

Note: Figures show permanent law in Maine enacted through September 10, 2018, (including legislative tax conformity agreement) at 2015 income levels. Top figure represents total state and local taxes as a share of non-elderly income. The sixth edition of Who Pays does not include the impact of the federal deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) because policy changes in the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act temporarily limited the extent to which the SALT deduction functions as a generalized offset of state and local taxes.