An Act To More Closely Coordinate the Classification of Forested Farmland under the Farm and Open Space Tax Laws with the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §578, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2009, c. 213, Pt. O, §1, is further amended to read:
The State Tax Assessor shall determine annually the amount of acreage in each municipality that is classified and taxed in accordance with this subchapter. Each municipality is entitled to annual payments distributed in accordance with this section from money appropriated by the Legislature if it submits an annual return in accordance with section 383 and if it achieves the minimum assessment ratio established in section 327. The State Tax Assessor shall pay any municipal claim found to be in satisfactory form by August 1st of the year following the submission of the annual return. The municipal reimbursement appropriation is calculated on the basis of 90% of the per acre tax revenue lost as a result of this subchapter. For property tax years based on the status of property on April 1, 2008 and April 1, 2009, municipal reimbursement under this section is further limited to the amount appropriated by the Legislature and distributed on a pro rata basis by the State Tax Assessor for all timely filed claims. For purposes of this section, "classified forest lands" means forest lands classified pursuant to this subchapter as well as all areas identified as forested land within farmland parcels that are transferred from tree growth classification pursuant to section 1112 on or after October 1, 2011. For the purposes of this section, the tax lost is the tax that would have been assessed, but for this subchapter, on the classified forest lands if they were assessed according to the undeveloped acreage valuations used in the state valuation then in effect, or according to the current local valuation on undeveloped acreage, whichever is less, minus the tax that was actually assessed on the same lands in accordance with this subchapter, and adjusted for the aggregate municipal savings in required educational costs attributable to reduced state valuation. A municipality that fails to achieve the minimum assessment ratio established in section 327 loses 10% of the reimbursement provided by this section for each one percentage point the minimum assessment ratio falls below the ratio established in section 327.
The State Tax Assessor shall adopt rules necessary to implement the provisions of this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules for the purposes of Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
(1) "Property tax burden" means the total real and personal property taxes assessed in the most recently completed municipal fiscal year, except the taxes assessed on captured value within a tax increment financing district, divided by the latest state valuation certified to the Secretary of State.
(2) "Undeveloped land" means rear acreage and unimproved nonwaterfront acreage that is not:
(a) Classified under the laws governing current use valuation set forth in chapter 105, subchapter 2-A, 10 or 10-A;
(b) A base lot; or
(c) Waste land.
(3) "Average value of undeveloped land" means the per acre undeveloped land valuations used in the state valuation then in effect, or according to the current local valuation on undeveloped land as determined for state valuation purposes, whichever is less.
(4) "Reduced tree growth valuation" means the difference between the average value of undeveloped land and the average value of tree growth land times the total number of acres classified as forest land under this subchapter plus the total number of acres of forest land that is transferred from tree growth classification to farmland classification pursuant to section 1112 on or after October 1, 2011.
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §1112, 3rd ¶, as amended by PL 1989, c. 555, §19 and c. 748, §6, is further amended to read:
A penalty may not be assessed at the time of a change of use from the farmland classification of land subject to taxation under this subchapter to the open space classification of land subject to taxation under this subchapter. A penalty may not be assessed upon the withdrawal of open space land from taxation under this subchapter if the owner applies for the land to be classified as and the land is accepted for classification as timberland under subchapter II-A 2-A. There also is no penalty imposed when land classified as timberland is accepted for classification as open space land. A penalty may not be assessed upon withdrawal of open space land from taxation under this subchapter , or from timberland taxation under subchapter II-A, if the owner applies for the land to be classified as and the land is accepted for classification as farmland under this subchapter. A penalty may not be assessed upon withdrawal of land enrolled under the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law if the owner applies for the land to be classified as and the land is accepted for classification as farmland under this chapter. The recapture penalty for withdrawal from farmland classification within 10 years of a transfer from either open space tax classification or timberland tax classification is the same imposed on withdrawal from the prior tax classification, open space or tree growth. The recapture penalty for withdrawal from farmland classification more than 10 years after such a transfer will be the regular farmland recapture penalty provided for in this section. In the event a penalty is later assessed under subchapter II-A 2-A, the period of time that the land was taxed as farmland or as open space land under this subchapter must be included for purposes of establishing the amount of the penalty.