AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine Lawmakers heard presentations from the LePage administration today on a plan to phase out the state's estate tax - a tax which Gov. Paul LePage says is forcing wealthy Mainers to leave the state.
Democrats, including Gardiner Rep. Gay Grant, pressed Richard Rosen, the governor's chief of finance, on whether the 31 states that do not have an estate tax are experiencing benefits.
"When other states have cut their inheritance tax have they seen all this intellectual capital return to their states that they were otherwise losing because of the inheritance tax?" asked Grant.
"I would say they have," said Rosen. "I would say that the change is a component of the comprehensive nature of the tax code that impacts personal decisions."
The plan would increase the estate tax exemption from $2 million to $5.5 million in 2016, and eliminate the tax completely the following year. Critics say the proposal would ultimately cost the state about $35 million a year in revenue and benefit fewer than 1 percent of all taxpayers.