Seniors could get a tax break in this state — at younger people's expense
The Pine Tree State ranks 17th in the nation for effective property tax rates, according to the Tax Foundation. It's a middling position on paper that can hit especially hard for seniors on fixed incomes.
'We have an aging population, and a lot of people on lower income in that age range, and it's just an incredibly unfair burden to put on them,' House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) told WGME.
But property taxes are the lifeblood of local government, and if seniors are removed from the tax rolls entirely, younger Mainers could be left footing the bill.
6 Maine Republicans are pursuing a bill that would eliminate property taxes for longtime senior residents, which could bring relief for those with fixed incomes.
Getty Images
What's in the proposal?
LD 1541 would eliminate property taxes for Maine residents aged 65 and older who have lived in the state for 10 or more consecutive years. The state government would then be responsible for reimbursing local governments for the lost revenue.
It's just one of several proposals across the country this year to abolish property taxes, which are pinching homeowners of all ages as home values remain elevated and push up tax bills, but it's unique in its focus on seniors.
6 The proposal would eliminate property taxes for Maine residents aged 65 and older who have lived in the state for 10 or more consecutive years.
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
For context, the median home in Maine cost just $249,000 in January 2020. Today, it's nearly doubled, to $462,500. That's pushed the state's median annual property tax bill to $4,223, according to Realtor.com® data.
For younger homeowners, that jump in equity can be a financial asset. But for retirees, the resulting spike in property taxes can become a serious burden. The Pine Tree State isn't alone in this. Nationally, tax burdens are driving older Americans to leave high-tax states in search of more affordable places to age in place.
Maine's proposal could help stop that outmigration by allowing longtime residents to stay in their homes. But the bill's financial impact on the rest of the state remains a major question mark.
6 While the plan could help keep longtime residents in Maine, it raises concerns over who will cover the costs.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
LD 1541 does not yet include a fiscal note—an official estimate of what it would cost—and Faulkingham has acknowledged that he doesn't yet have a firm projection.
Still, past efforts and Maine's demographics suggest the cost could be staggering.
A similar, doomed program
This isn't the first time Maine has tried to provide property tax relief to seniors in the state. A 2022 program froze qualifying seniors' property tax bills so they wouldn't increase year to year as home prices also rose.
6 A 2022 program froze qualifying seniors' property tax bills so they wouldn't increase year to year as home prices also rose, and was later repealed 11 months after enactment due to its cost.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
That initiative cost the state $26 million and was repealed just 11 months after enactment due to its cost.
In addition to the price tag, critics of the freeze also pointed to loopholes that made it possible for well-off homeowners to apply the homestead exemption to their luxury homes. It's unclear if similar workarounds would be possible in LD 1541.
Keep in mind, the 2020 initiative simply froze effective rates—meaning that seniors were still responsible for paying some property taxes. The new proposal would eliminate them entirely, threatening a shortfall that could have severe consequences for the rest of the state.
6 The new proposal would eliminate property taxes for seniors entirely, impacting the rest of the state.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Who will pay the difference?
Part of the difficulty in Maine might be related to the simple fact that it's home to so many seniors. When measured by median age, Maine is the oldest state in the nation, and nearly a quarter of its population is over the age of 65, according to a 2024 report by the State Economist of Maine.
Nationally, nearly 80% of seniors are homeowners and boomers (those aged between 61 and 79) hold $84 trillion in real estate wealth. Assuming Maine seniors mirror these trends, local governments could lose a substantial portion of their revenue.
6 According to the State Economist of Maine in 2024, it is the oldest state in the nation, with nearly 25% of its population being over the age of 65.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
And if the state can't fully cover the shortfall, homeowners under the age of 65 might be left picking up the tab, shouldering higher property taxes in a housing market that's already unaffordable for many.
An uncomfortable trade-off
Proponents of LD 1541 see it as a lifeline for Maine's aging population—one that could help longtime residents stay in their homes despite rising costs.
But with no fiscal analysis and few guardrails in place, others worry the proposal could shift the financial burden onto younger generations—especially in a state where nearly one in four residents is over 65.
Without clarity on how the state would reimburse municipalities or offset the potential cost of this proposal, it's not just a question of whether Maine can afford to help seniors; it's a question of whether doing so might come at the expense of younger Mainers.
As the bill moves forward, the challenge for lawmakers will be finding a way to support aging Mainers without undermining the financial future of the state they hope to keep calling home.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
30 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
How Democrats can stop talking past each other and start winning
A second group of moderates, including important donors, are libertarians who endorse ' Advertisement The third group of moderate Democrats yearns to turn back the clock to the New Deal coalition. A chief spokesperson is Ruy Teixeira of the Liberal Patriot newsletter. '[T]he New Deal Democrats were moderate and even small-c conservative in their social outlook,' he Advertisement Beginning in the 1970s, college-educated progressives began to focus on issues involving race, gender, the environment, and sexual freedom. Teixeira This brings us to the only moderate position that holds promise for Democrats: defining moderate as being pragmatic, rather than doctrinaire. College-educated progressives need to recognize that their priorities and their cultural values don't match those of most Americans. In 2024, inflation and the economy were Advertisement Centering that economic message is the first pragmatic step in rebuilding Democrats' brand to appeal to both college grads and noncollege grads. The second step is to recognize that cultural preferences differ across class lines. Non-elites value self-discipline because they need to get up every day, on time, without an attitude, to work at jobs with little autonomy. Consequently, they highly value traditional institutions that anchor self-discipline: religion, the military, the family. Those same institutions offer non-elites sources of social status independent of their subordinate positions in a capitalist economy. Blue-collar values reflect blue-collar lives. That's why, on cultural issues, college-educated progressives need to stop demanding a mind-meld with the Democratic Party. If you're playing to win, politics requires not purity but an ability to build coalitions with people whose values may differ from yours in fundamental ways. Democrats need to treat voters without college degrees as respected coalition partners, making tradeoffs. Advertisement This doesn't mean that progressives need to abandon their values; it means they have to act on them. Here are two uncomfortable facts: Progressive activists as a group are much
Boston Globe
30 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
I didn't want to need free groceries
So I share Kidder's lament that feeding the hungry is on track to be a growth industry in Donald Trump's America. The Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Experience first. Before 2009, as the son of a judge and the privileged middle class, I'd never been unemployed and in need of charity in three decades of working. I loved what I did, even though freelance writing is a constant scramble for income. I've always read a book before bed; as a freelancer, I chose only books for which I was earning a reviewer's paycheck. Advertisement When the recession and its double-digit unemployment hit, the 'subprime mortgages,' 'mortgage-backed securities,' and unregulated 'shadow banks' that underlay them — and that many Americans had never heard of — unleashed work-killing forces too devastating for individual initiative to counter. Even wealthy Harvard scrapped a lucrative project (by my bank account's standards) that I'd done for four straight summers. My then-wife's part-time job invaluably backstopped the family income. But after a year of little work and with no idea how long I'd be idle, I despaired of ever being employed again. Free groceries to stretch our household resources seemed the only responsible path, especially with a child to feed. Advertisement The other folks in St. Paul's basement made for an interesting cross-section of people. Some were fellow baby boomers. The age and dress of others suggested they were students, presumably not destitute but nevertheless on a budget as they contended with Greater Boston's formidable living costs. No one dressed in rags. (Neither did the recipients Kidder observed, which he attributes to their efforts 'to ward off disgrace' from having to seek charity.) My anxious heart beat fast during my first time at the pantry. Normally a chatterbox, I made little small talk with others. It took a number of weeks before the habitual visits and the saintly volunteers' freedom from judgment thawed some of my embarrassment. I also found psychic balm in the relief of free food for my household's budget. Not everyone adjusted as easily. At least one person at the pantry teared up at having to seek aid in public. I never saw her return. Advertisement The volunteers who set out and distributed food never questioned who we were or why we were there. Hard hearts will call that poor quality control. Those who know better, who relied on the kindness of these strangers, recognize it as mindfulness of recipients' dignity. Today, those who do such work can't fully backfill the Beautiful Bill's shrinkage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps). Kidder notes that the national food bank network Feeding America says SNAP supplied nine times as much food as its own agency's food banks do. That the bill's backers had not just food support but the broader safety net in their sights is clear from the legislation's attaching work requirements to Medicaid. Two years ago, perhaps anticipating this dark American moment, Republican Representative Steve Scalise Yet do work. Work requirements Perhaps if our leaders saw who goes to food pantries and why — perhaps if they spent a week or two living as pantry patrons — the mythic myopia would lift from their eyes. But there are none so blind as those who will not see. Advertisement
Boston Globe
30 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Gutting EPA climate rules will put lives at risk
Removing the greenhouse gas regulations will increase extreme weather and pollution, which will put lives at risk, hurt the economy, and increase Americans' health costs by shifting costs to lost productivity and lost income. Advertisement The very real impact of extreme weather is hard to miss. Brutal heat is becoming the norm. Take last month, when Advertisement Further, an estimated But beyond the headlines of death and destruction, extreme weather is also having an impact on daily lives. Climate change compromises livelihoods, particularly for the millions who work outdoors. If it's too hot to harvest a crop or work on a construction site, it will impact workers' incomes as well as the bottom line for businesses. Extreme heat causes In the agriculture sector, extreme heat drives up food prices, because there are fewer days when food can be harvested — a Cutting regulation isn't saving ordinary Americans money; it's saving big business money. The EPA Advertisement The sad truth is the administration is abandoning its responsibility to act, and American citizens and people around the globe will pay the price. Denying the incontrovertible truth about climate change risks more death and damage to property and business. Further, under the guise of deregulation, the administration is strategically undermining the authority of scientists and the public's access to facts on how greenhouse gas emissions will impact lives and livelihoods. White House officials will not back down. Instead Congress and state and city officials, as well as courts, must block the plan. Otherwise, we risk deepening misunderstanding with the public, economic damage, more loss of life, and putting our long-term prosperity at risk. This isn't giving Americans more choice, it's stripping them of their right to clean air, safe communities, and a secure job.
