State Legislature Continues Use Tax Policy Against Transient Aircraft

If you purchased your plane within the past year, you'll probably want to continue avoiding flying it in Maine. Legislative appropriators gutted a bill this week that would have exempted out-of-state aircraft from the state's use tax.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association tells ANN the pilot advocacy group worked closely with the Maine aviation business community, and members of the state House of Representatives and Senate, to craft a bill that would have exempted out-of-state aircraft from the tax... but a last-minute change to the bill by the Appropriations Committee means that out-of-state pilots who have owned their aircraft for less than a year once again face tax bills of thousands of dollars if they spend as little as three weeks in Maine anytime during that first year of ownership.

"This bill doesn’t address the tax issue at all," said Greg Pecoraro, AOPA vice president of regional affairs. "Appropriators were reluctant to give up aviation use tax revenue because of an expected structural gap in the state budget, but we’ve told the legislature that they won’t be able to get much revenue from the use tax because new aircraft owners won’t fly into the state."

AOPA states the final version only allows exemptions for charity and compassion flights, such as Angel Flight medical airlift flights, from the 20-day limit a new aircraft can be in Maine without being taxed. The version of the bill, that passed both the House and the Senate before going to the Appropriations Committee, would also have exempted an aircraft’s time spent in the state because of poor weather, or on business or pleasure trips. Time spent in the state for maintenance is already exempt.

Aircraft owners who did not have to pay sales tax when they purchased their aircraft would be subject to paying six percent of the aircraft's sale price. Those who paid a sales tax less than six percent would be charged the difference.

AOPA notes that while a few weekend trips to Maine might not hurt, pilots should still be wary.

"There is a gray area. It is possible that if you fly to Maine on a Friday evening after work and stay until early Monday morning before flying back to the office, that stay could count as four days of the time limit," Pecoraro noted. "Or, let’s say your aircraft gets weathered in during your weekend trip, and because of work obligations, you have to leave your airplane and drive or catch a train home.

"The clock is ticking the whole time the aircraft is stuck in the state."

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.maine.gov/revenue/