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An Act To Simplify and Relieve Personal Property Taxes for Small Businesses
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §655, sub-§1, ¶P,   as amended by PL 1997, c. 24, Pt. U, §1, is further amended to read:
 
P.  All items of individually owned personal property with a just value of less than $1,000, except:
 
(1) Items used for industrial or commercial purposes; and
 
(2) Vehicles and camp trailers as defined in section 1481 not subject to an excise tax; and
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §655, sub-§1, ¶S,   as enacted by PL 1983, c. 555, §1, is amended to read:
 
S.  Mining property as provided in section 2854.;
Sec. 3. 36 MRSA §655, sub-§1, ¶T  is enacted to read:
 
T.  Property that would be eligible for reimbursement under chapter 915 that belongs to a person not claiming an exemption under paragraph U, who owns no more than $100,000 of just value of such property; and 
Sec. 4. 36 MRSA §655, sub-§1, ¶U  is enacted to read:
 
U.  Personal property used for business purposes that belongs to a person not claiming an exemption under paragraph T, who owns no more than $20,000 of just value of such property. 
Sec. 5. 36 MRSA §655, sub-§2  is enacted to read:
 
2.  Reimbursement for certain exemptions.     The State shall reimburse municipalities and the unorganized territory for 100% of property tax revenue losses under subsection 1, paragraphs T and U in the same manner and according to the same schedule as provided under section 661. 
 
SUMMARY
This bill proposes property tax exemptions for certain personal property owned by small businesses. A person with up to $20,000 of business personal property is entitled to an exemption for that property. A person with up to $100,000 of personal property that would be eligible for the BETR program is entitled to a property tax exemption for that property. The bill requires the State to reimburse municipalities and the unorganized territory for 100% of the property tax revenue loss resulting from the exemptions.