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An Act To Lower Property Taxes
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  30-A MRSA §5686  is enacted to read:
§ 5686. Local sales tax sharing
 
1.  Local sales tax determination.     Beginning September 1, 2018 and annually thereafter, the State Tax Assessor shall, based on available taxable retail sales data as derived from state sales tax collections, determine the amount of sales tax revenue attributable to each municipality and the unorganized territory under Title 36, Part 3 for the previous fiscal year and certify those amounts to the State Controller and the Treasurer of State.
 
2.  Transfers.     By September 15, 2018 and annually thereafter, the State Controller shall transfer 5% of the amount certified under subsection 1 by the State Tax Assessor to a local sales tax account, which must be established for this purpose.
 
3.  Payments to municipalities and the unorganized territory.     The Treasurer of State shall pay by October 15th annually to each municipality and the Unorganized Territory Education and Services Fund under Title 36, section 1605, from the local sales tax account established pursuant to subsection 2, an amount equal to 5% of the sales tax revenue for the previous fiscal year attributable to the municipality and the unorganized territory as certified by the State Tax Assessor under subsection 1. The amount received under this section by a municipality or the fund may not reduce or be reduced by any other revenue sharing or state aid received by the municipality or the fund. A municipality or the fiscal administrator of the unorganized territory shall reduce the property tax levy, as defined in section 5721-A, subsection 1, paragraph D, in an amount equal to the payments received under this section in the fiscal year that the local sales tax revenue is received.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires payments beginning in fiscal year 2018-19 to a municipality of an amount, as determined by the State Tax Assessor, equal to 5% of the sales and use tax revenue attributable to the municipality in the previous fiscal year. The amount received may not reduce any other state aid or revenue sharing received by that municipality, and the municipality must use the amount received to reduce property taxes by the same amount. The Unorganized Territory Education and Services Fund receives the local sales tax payment for the unorganized territory and is subject to the same requirement to use the revenue to reduce property taxes.