Share of modeled taxes paid
53.6%Approximate share attributed to the highest-income 20% of Maine tax families.
46.3% is attributed to the lower-income 80%; totals differ from 100% by rounding.
Taxes & affordability
What households pay—and what those numbers mean.
This page separates property-value affordability, statewide tax measures, tax-incidence estimates, and the many different taxes and mandatory charges that can affect Maine households.
Retirement, long ownership & fixed incomes
A higher home value doesn’t pay the bills.
Property tax follows taxable property value, not the owner’s household income. For retirees who rely on Social Security or a limited pension, a higher assessment does not create additional monthly income. A larger tax bill must still be paid from the same budget that covers food, heat, medicine, insurance, maintenance, and repairs.
That creates a particular tension for long-time owners. A home or camp purchased decades ago can appreciate many times over while the owner’s cash income changes far more slowly. The owner may have substantial equity on paper without having additional cash available to meet a rising annual carrying cost.
What about homes kept in a family for generations?
Some Raymond residents describe lake properties that have remained in the same family for two or three generations. TORMTA has not yet compiled deed histories to measure how common that is, so we do not present it as a townwide statistic.
The underlying issue can be stated without relying on anecdote: current assessment is based on current value, not what a family paid decades ago. When market values rise much faster than household income, a long-held property can become more expensive to keep even though the family has not sold it or realized the increase in value.
Owning a valuable home is not the same thing as having a high current income.
What an increase means each month: the documented lakefront household example above requires roughly another $200 every month—about $2,400 a year.
Rounded from the documented household example above, not a town-wide average. Each owner’s change depends on taxable value, exemptions, and applicable relief.
A statewide affordability problem
The value of a home.
The cost of holding on.
A home can become more valuable on paper while the household budget stays the same. The question at the kitchen table is simple: can we keep making this work?
Maine ranks 5th by this measure
Local property-tax revenue as a share of statewide personal income · 2023 data
About 39% above the national figure.
Comparing residential property taxes
Effective rates on owner-occupied housing · Tax Foundation 2026 state profiles
These charts measure different things. The January 2026 legislative report cites Maine as 20th-highest relative to owner-occupied housing value in 2023, and 5th-highest relative to personal income. Maine’s income-based burden is the stronger national outlier. Report, page 4.
The market changed. A household’s income may not have.
| Area | 2019 | 2025 | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | $225,000 | $405,000 | 80.0% |
| Cumberland County | $325,000 | $590,000 | 81.5% |
For an owner who plans to stay, a higher potential selling price does not supply the cash needed for a higher annual tax bill. For a young family trying to buy, the higher price creates another hurdle.
These MLS sale-price medians are not the appreciation of every home, assessment increases, or tax-bill increases. They document substantial market change; they do not establish that prices were artificial or that any group of buyers caused the increase.
Sources: Maine Association of REALTORS’ 2010–2022 history and 2025 year-end report. Percentage changes calculated from published figures.
Does a higher assessment create income—or guarantee future tax relief?
No. Property taxes are recurring charges based on taxable property value, not a tax on a realized sale profit. An owner can face a larger bill without selling or receiving any additional income.
Falling market values also do not automatically lower bills. If the total taxable value falls but the levy stays the same, a higher mill rate can offset that decline. Each owner’s share and the amount raised both matter.
Raymond says this revaluation uses local sales from April 2024 through March 2026, and that older assessments had fallen well below market value. Those explanations should be tested against the actual records. The housing-price history alone does not demonstrate deliberate targeting.
Source: Raymond revaluation explanation and tax-rate formula.
Property-tax affordability is one relevant consideration when evaluating how assessment rules, spending decisions, and relief programs affect households.
This site examines assessment fairness, spending, and available relief as separate parts of that affordability question.
Who pays the tax dollars?
Dollar share and income burden are different questions.
Maine Revenue Services models the distribution of state and local taxes by income for Maine tax families. In its 2026–27 Tax Expenditure Report, the broadest “all taxes” measure uses 2023 data and includes individual income tax, consumer sales and excise taxes, owner-occupied property tax, and modeled business and other property taxes shifted to Maine residents.
Taxes relative to income
13.3%Modeled effective rate for the lowest-income 20%.
The report shows 9.4% for the top 1%. These percentages answer a different question than each group’s share of total tax dollars.
Source: Maine Revenue Services, 2026–27 Tax Expenditure Report, Appendix E, Table 5. Maine Revenue Services cautions that estimates of business taxes shifted to Maine residents are especially uncertain because they rely on modeling assumptions. The figures describe tax families and modeled tax incidence, not the exact taxes paid by every household.
Paying a larger dollar share of taxes does not create a larger personal allotment of public services.
Taxes finance shared public functions. The amount a household pays and the amount of a particular service that household uses are separate questions. Property tax likewise allocates costs according to taxable value rather than assigning each property a service quota.
Taxes and tax-related charges · Reviewed October 13, 2026
How many ways are Maine residents taxed?
A Maine household can encounter taxes at the local, state, and federal levels—on income, homes, purchases, vehicles, fuel, communications, travel, estates, and certain products and services. This is an inventory, not a claim that every resident pays every item. Some charges apply only in particular circumstances; some are imposed on businesses and may be reflected in prices; and some communications charges are statutory surcharges rather than taxes.
Income, homes & property
- Maine individual income tax
- Municipal real estate / property tax
- Personal property tax, where applicable
- Maine estate tax, for qualifying estates
- Fiduciary income tax on qualifying trusts and estates
- Real estate transfer tax
- Additional real estate transfer tax on the portion of qualifying transfers above $1 million
- Real estate income-tax withholding in applicable sales (a withholding mechanism, not a separate tax)
Purchases & services
- General Maine sales tax
- Use tax when Maine sales tax was not collected on a taxable purchase
- Prepared-food sales tax
- Lodging sales tax
- Short-term automobile rental tax
- Sales tax on qualifying long-term vehicle rentals
- Sales tax on taxable telecommunications services
- Sales tax on cable and satellite television / radio services
- Sales tax on qualifying digital audiovisual and digital audio services, including taxable streaming services
- Sales tax on taxable electricity usage and delivery beyond applicable residential exemptions
Vehicles, boats & fuel
- Motor-vehicle excise tax
- Camper-trailer excise tax
- Watercraft excise tax
- Aircraft excise tax, when applicable
- Maine gasoline excise tax
- Maine diesel / special-fuel excise tax
- Other motor-fuel taxes in applicable uses
Products & other state taxes
- Cigarette tax
- Other tobacco-products tax
- Adult-use cannabis sales tax
- Cannabis excise tax
- Medical-cannabis sales tax
- Alcohol-related excise taxes and state markups on beer, wine, and spirits
- Insurance-premiums tax (legally imposed on insurers; the cost may be passed through)
Internet access itself is not listed here as a Maine sales-tax item. Maine separately taxes certain telecommunications, cable/satellite, and digital audiovisual/audio services. A phone or wireless bill can also include government-mandated surcharges that are not technically taxes.
Telephone, wireless & communications surcharges
- Maine statewide E-911 surcharge
- Maine Universal Service Fund charge
- Maine Telecommunications Education Access Fund / School and Library Fund charge
- ConnectMaine / statewide broadband access fund surcharge
- Federal Universal Service Fund assessment or related carrier recovery charge
Exact bill labels and applicability vary by provider and service. These are listed separately because a surcharge or assessment is not necessarily a tax.
Specialized Maine taxes and obligations
These generally apply to particular industries, employers, businesses, trusts, or transactions rather than to every household.
- Blueberry tax
- Potato tax
- Mahogany quahog tax
- Milk handling fee
- Health-care-provider tax
- Hospital tax
- Corporate income tax
- Bank / franchise tax
- Employer income-tax withholding
- Unemployment contributions / taxes
- Pass-through-entity withholding
Federal taxes Maine residents may also pay
- Federal individual income tax
- Social Security payroll tax
- Medicare payroll tax
- Additional Medicare tax, when applicable
- Self-employment tax, when applicable
- Federal estate and gift taxes, when applicable
- Federal gasoline and diesel excise taxes
- Federal alcohol and tobacco excise taxes
- Federal air-transportation excise taxes and segment / international travel taxes
Capital gains are generally taxed through the federal and Maine income-tax systems rather than as a separate stand-alone tax.
Official sources: Maine Revenue Services — Taxes · MRS tax-type index · MRS — Other Taxes · MRS — Excise Tax · MRS — Transfer Tax · MRS — 2026 sales-tax changes for telecommunications and digital services · Maine E-911 surcharge · ConnectMaine surcharge statute · IRS Publication 510 — Federal excise taxes.
This page is a plain-English overview, not tax advice. Taxability, exemptions, and who is legally liable can depend on the transaction and taxpayer.