Maine Use Tax heads up.

[RichH]

Its all called 'equilibrium' .... screw with me and I'll go somewhere else as 'cash and capital' are VERY portable.

Over-tax me and Ill move my money, etc. to where you CANT tax it (except in NJ where if you sell your house to move to another state .... yup you guessed it: there is a whopping special tax on that too).

Didnt stuff like this cause a massive armed rebellion in 1776?

 

[Gail R]

He should have waited to buy it until August first. He would have saved 3% of the cost.

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/images/TaxReduction.pdf

I'll bet some smart dealers are "renting" brand new boats until August.

Keep in mind the 2% rate applies only to non-residents. If you are a resident of Maine, you will continue to pay 5%. It's pretty sad that our legislature won't treat its own full-time residents as well as it treats the people from away, but I can't say that I'm all that surprised.

Of course, we all know that it's the non-residents who are most likely to buy these new boats from Maine boatbuilders like Lyman, Morris, and Hinckley. With so few decent jobs in Maine, there are few people who live/work here who can afford the price tag on these nice boats. Just like the waterfront real estate whose ownership is shifting more and more to out-of-staters.

Don't get me wrong - I support our boat buiders and I want to see the industry flourish. But why limit the sales tax break to non-residents? We full-time Mainiacs deserve a little love too, don't we?!

 

[Gail R]

When I lived in Marblehead, MA, I used to take my boat up to Booth Bay Harbor to participate in the Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Series. Included races out of the Booth Bay Yacht Club and also the Monhegan Island race. The boat stayed up there for more than 30 days. I guess that the out of state participation will come to a screeching halt.

Will come to a screeching halt? Heck, we can't even get the in-staters to come out and play. Most every weekend, a good 90 percent of sailboats are bobbing on their moorings. Clubs do well to get 20 local boats out to race on a given weekend. GMORA membership is down, but not due to lack of out-of-staters. I blame it on Little League, soccer leagues, and other scheduled children's activities that keep sailing families from coming out to play.

But more to the point, no one seems to be reading that the law changed in April of this year (see the press release on Roger's site) and the 5% tax no longer applies. Of course, if you still want to stay away, that's your choice. All the more room in the quiet anchorage for the rest of us.

 

[txtowman]

is that 2% of the value or what?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Yup, it's or what. Easy answer.

 

[druid]

5%? Rookies! It's 12% here in BC, and the 6% on your moorage just went up to 12% July 1st. And that's 12% EVERY TIME THE BOAT GETS SOLD.

druid