Democrats vote down LePage bill to kill Maine estate tax

Source: Bangor Daily News

AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill from Gov. Paul LePage to repeal Maine’s estate tax was rejected on Tuesday by Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives, prompting an angry response from the governor’s office.

It was an expected step for one of the Republican governor’s longstanding goals, which LePage put forward in his 2015 budget proposal. LePage has repeatedly called the estate tax unfair and hostile to wealthy retirees. But the Legislature in 2015 amended it to only apply to estates valued at $5.5 million and only the amount over that threshold.

On Tuesday, the House rejected LePage’s bill in a 77-65, party-line vote, with Democrats calling it a misplaced budget priority that constitutes a giveaway to relatively few rich families. It faces action in the Senate, but it will die if the House stays firm.

Maine’s one of 15 states with an estate tax, according to the Tax Foundation. But the liberal Maine Center for Economic Policy has said of the 13,000 people who die in the state each year, about 60 families are subject to Maine’s estate tax. Repealing it would cost a projected $14.2 million in the first full year of implementation.

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