Planning on taking a vacation this summer in your private yacht or plane? Thinking about going heading up to the Pine Tree State? Maybe sprinkle some of that hard-earned lucre on the locals?
Gummint wants their share first:
The crowds at Maine
|
|||||
Hey, rich guy!17 comments to Hey, rich guy! |
 Military members find information on homes for military by visiting Military Homes.com   |
||||
|
Copyright © 2010 Neptunus Lex - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
It’s a beautiful theory that will work to raise revenue. It just hasn’t been tried right the past 500,000 times.
It’s not quite as bad as the press portrays it. Maine does, however, always rank as one of the most heavily taxed states in the nation.
“Aircraft owners can still explore the wonders of Maine without being taxed on their airplane but they do have to follow the rules, according to a senior Maine tax official. David Bauer, of Maine’s Bureau of Revenue Services, told AVweb his department and other government offices have received “huge volumes of e-mail and phone calls” since AVweb carried the story about Massachusetts resident Steve Kahn’s battle with Maine over its “User Tax.” Bauer said the story left the incorrect impression that any visit by an out-of-state aircraft would trigger the tax. “The bottom line is that you should plan carefully if you intend to fly into Maine, and spend more than 20 days in Maine, within one year after the initial purchase of your aircraft and you have not paid a sales or use tax on the aircraft in another state,” Bauer said.
There’s nothing new about Maine’s use tax and it also applies to other items of “tangible personal property” like boats (with a 30-day grace period) and, in certain circumstances, cars. Aircraft are perhaps easier to track than other items because most flights leave an FAA paper trail. However, the tax does not apply to any item purchased more than a year before its entry to Maine. There’s also an exemption for aircraft undergoing “necessary” repairs or maintenance (paint and interior work don’t count, for the most part). But Bauer said the vast majority of aircraft owners need not fear the tax. “In most situations, nonresidents flying into Maine do not owe the tax and are not at risk of being assessed,” he said. “There are circumstances where a tax will be due, but that is the exception, not the rule.” Bauer has promised to enlighten us on Maine’s justification for the tax next week.”
AOPA has been fighting this for a while now. With no real success. Seems to me a more effective way of generating these revenues would be to supply free food at all the FBO’s in Maine, while surreptitiously increasing the tax on Jet A a few pennies per gallon. Heck, I bet they would make even more money.
Or in the case of the Bedford resident he could always just drive…
Besides, who the hell would want to yacht up to Maine? If you’re in the NE area you might as well hit up Buzzard’s Bay, MV, the Tuck or the perennial classic Newport. Short of shooting a bear*, there’s nothing in Maine you can’t see/do somewhere else where mooring doesn’t cost nearly as much.
*Which you can technically do anywhere else with proper licensing but it’s just a lot easier there.
and God laughs derivisely at the biblical fools…
Being the resident New Englander in these parts, I take exception to that. Maine has a rich and varied coastal history, with much to offer. Try the Penobscot Bay or Boothbay Harbor or Bar Harbor, to name but a tiny few. These are all gorgeous and huge bays with quiet villages nestled onto the coastline. Small villages, leaving alot of coastline pristine and unspoiled.
We’ve spent a lot of time in these places and I’ve lost count at the luxury yachts we have seen. Those places you mentioned? Overrun with nasty tourists – you know the ones… The coastline of Maine does offer peace and quiet; and who says every yacht owner wants to be with the hoi polloi. Maine offers something to these people that those other places can’t – privacy.
Maine offers plenty — I always go for the black flies. There are none better, except for up in New Brunswick, right AW1 Tim?
Ahh Maine, SERE school in October rain.
I’ve got friends who live up there year round. Now we’re talking up near Caribou. This year, they had more than 200″ of snow. That is 16′ 8″ of snow, the kicker was I called them on the phone in early April, the snow line had melted all the way down to 10′. On the same night I called, they got another 6″ of snow. I mean, like they really need it. Up in the top cap of Maine, a place called Fort Kent, they had the St. John’s River over flowing its banks, a lot of water with no place to go. They can have it, I don’t want it.
SJBill, as far as the black flies go,with this weather, you’ll need a baseball bat to kill ‘em. By the way, does SJ, in your nickname, stand for South Jersey?
As always,
“Grumpy
Sir Grumpy,
I resemble that remark in two ways: born in Trenton, NJ, and currently reside in San Jose, CA.
Our family lived across the Piscataqua from Maine in New Hampsha for a few years. Black flies and skeeters I will not evah miss.
I did like the twofer lobsta dinner specials in York Beach, though.
SJBill, Sir Grumpy? I was enlisted. People don’t understand the size of Maine. I live south of Trenton in Atlantic County on the mainland and the ancestry has been here since the Revolutionary War. Say you were going to drive from Fort Kent, ME to Atlantic City, NJ, the halfway point is still well inside the State of Maine. Just a thought.
I hope everything goes well for you in San Jose, Ca. I just hope the ground stays put!
Grumpy,
I was enlisted as well — an AX back in the day.
Sorry, I’m old fashioned and refer to folks I respect as Sir, and that includes most folks in Lex’s crib.
BTW, my Mom and Dad moved across the state and lived in Barnegat (across the Bay from Barnegat Light, just up in Ocean County. They were descended of recent immigrants who came over in the 1890s and early 1900s.
I fully appreciated the colonial history. Were your ancestors involved in the bog iron industry ’round Batsto or were they farmers?
[...] Lex covers Maine’s outright money grab as they tax rich people who decide to visit their state by private yacht or plane. OK, dock fees [...]
Evidently not. Witness the “necessity” of bailing out (== subsidizing) those who were too greedy or stupid to realize they had signed up for a mortgage they couldn’t handle. Paid for by taxing us fools who actually bought something we could afford.
OK I’ll stop now.
SJBill, Sir, yes, you deserve it, you did it the old fashioned way, you earned it. It is strange, one side of my family, it was a mix of trades people then with glass industry. People like Dr. Jonas Salk went to them to have all of his glassware made by them. The other side were seafaring people, no steam engines, all sail. This was up to my Grandfather. He started on that path, but some health issues with my Grandmother put the stop to it. He was also a journeyman carpenter. When it came time to “put down” the old schooner, the base of the main mast, about 6′, was brought here and put in the cellar. To this day, it is still there. What is strange is they could sail the schooner up the Egg Harbor River a long way. There was a depth of about 40′ for most of it. This was true until man, in his infantile wisdom, started to build on the barrier islands. They took a small group of islands and tied them all together and built on them. This just about shut down the river. Well, if you take Google Earth, you look up “Longport, NJ”, look at the lower end. You’ll see something strange, it starts with 11th Street. People ask, Why did they start there? What happened with 1st to 10th streets? Oh, they’re there, just under water. People decided it was not the smartest move to argue with Mother Nature.
Bill, do you know what I think this Country’s biggest problem is? It is my belief, we need to start learning from history.
Thank you, for reading, it was fun.
Have a GREAT week,
Grumpy
“Besides, who the hell would want to yacht up to Maine? If you’re in the NE area you might as well hit up Buzzard’s Bay, MV, the Tuck or the perennial classic Newport.”
I’ve done a lot of sailing “down east” – the dress code and the attitude is much more to my liking than the high-dollar locations mentioned above.
[...] below link and the embedded link within the blog to the NY Sun article will be of interest to you. Hey, rich guy! | Neptunus Lex __________________ Liberalism: the haunting fear that, somewhere, somehow, someone can help [...]