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Action Alert: Preserving Nonprofit Property Tax Exemption

Date postedApril 28, 2025
Posted By: Mary Alice Scott Advocacy + Government,

Bills Could Negatively Impact Nonprofits in Maine

Next week, the Maine legislature will hear two bills which could negatively impact nonprofits across the state, and we need your help to ensure their defeat.

The two bills are LD 438 and LD 1795. LD 438 would effectively allow municipalities to end property tax exemption for nonprofits, and LD 1795 would increase how much a municipality could charge a nonprofit for “service fees” – just a different way of charging property tax.

TAKE ACTION:

  1. Sign MANP's sign on letter opposing these changes
  2. Identify your legislators (if you don’t know who they are, look them up here)
  3. Email your legislators with a message. Below is sample language, but we highly encourage you to modify it and make it relevant to your organization and community:

“I work at _____, a constituent organization based in ____, and I urge you to oppose LD 438 and LD 1795, two bills which would allow municipalities to increase taxes on nonprofits. They would divert funds from the delivery of vital services and programs and have negative consequences for our community."

Highlight the impact your organization has on your community. How does your organization provide support for other industries and other areas of the economy? What would reducing your services and programs mean for those sectors and for your community?

More Talking Points:

  • Nonprofits provide many essential, high-impact and community-based services, often more effectively and efficiently than government can, thereby reducing the burden on government while enhancing quality of life.
  • Nonprofits earn property tax exemption: it's a recognition of the important partnership between nonprofits and government, and of the important public benefit function that nonprofits serve. It also ensures that every dollar earned and spent by a nonprofit is dedicated to the mission and the community it supports.
  • By definition, charitable nonprofits ensure that “profit” is reinvested in community benefits.
  • Nonprofits are economic drivers - 1 in 6 Maine workers is employed by a nonprofit, generating $400 million in personal income tax revenue.
  • Asking nonprofits to pay taxes or additional fees fundamentally goes against the principle of our charitable status, would likely force reductions in our existing programs, and limit our ability to grow new programming to address evolving community needs.
  • When costs increase, nonprofits cannot simply pass those costs along to those they serve.
  • Many nonprofits already make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes when their budgets permit it.
  • Without the essential infrastructure of the nonprofit sector, government would need to increase taxes in order to provide the range of services and innovative solutions to community needs that nonprofits now provide.

Bonus Points if you live / work in or near the district of a member of the Taxation Committee, who will hear testimony on the bill next week. Their contact info is linked below. (Please e-mail MAScott@nonprofitmaine.org to let us know if you've been in touch with them!)

Taxation Committee Members:

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