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Showing posts with the label Homer Rule Amendment

L.R. 492: Governor LePage's Unconstitutional Proposal

   L.R. 492, is a  bill the LePage administration submitted recently to clarify the law exempting some aviation companies from paying property taxes. The language of the bill is not yet public, but George Gervais, Gov. Paul LePage 's commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, said Wednesday that it is designed to ensure that the law exempting aviation uses is applied consistently. LePage administration wades into Brunswick tax fight  -Steve Mistle   Portland press Herald What Governor Lepage and the state's  Department of Economic and Community Development  are proposing is is a violation of the Home Rule Amendment of the Maine State Constitution, providing that property taxes are included in the charters of municipal corporations. There cannot be anything more clearly " local and municipal in character" than property taxes- which are based on property located within the municipality and are justified as payment for servi