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An Act To Allow a Municipality To Abate Taxes Assessed on Property That Is Destroyed
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §841, sub-§2-A  is enacted to read:
 
2-A.  Destruction of property.     The assessors, either upon written application or on their own initiative, may make such reasonable abatement as they consider proper to reflect the diminishment of the value of assessed residential real property due to its destruction after April 1st of the property tax year for which abatement is requested. A taxpayer seeking an abatement pursuant to this subsection must file a written application requesting abatement within 18 months from the date of the destruction of the property stating the grounds for abatement. For purposes of this subsection, "destruction" means damage to real property from fire, explosion or natural disaster that reduces the just value of the improvements on the property by at least 50%.
Sec. 2. Application. This Act applies to property tax years beginning on or after April 1, 2013.
 
SUMMARY
This bill allows municipal assessors, or the State Tax Assessor for property in the unorganized territory, to abate the property taxes of residential real property that, due to destruction by fire, explosion or natural disaster, suffers at least a 50% decrease in just value to improvements on that residential real property.