Maine's "stupidest RV tax" was based on rumor

News of what was dubbed "the stupidest RV tax in a decade" spread quickly late in the week with dozens of baffled RVers weighing in on the RVtravel.com Facebook page and in RV forums across the Web.

The way the news was originally presented and reported by RVtravel.com and others was that the owner of any rented RV that entered Maine and stayed there for more than 24 hours would be forced to pay Maine's five percent sales tax on the original purchase price of the RV, even though it was bought in another state! For example, if renter from a Cruise America outlet in Massachusetts were to drive a rental RV into Maine that had cost Cruise America $50,000, and stayed there 24 hours or more, then Cruise America would be forced to pay $2,500 to Maine in sales tax.

Wow! Did this news stir up anger in the RV community! "That is one of the most insane laws I've heard of," wrote Joe Baum on the RVtravel.com Facebook page. "They must have eaten some bad lobsters," wrote Fe Blanco.

But hold on, cautioned Peter Bealieu with Maine's Revenue Services. The tax is not about out-of-state RV rentals.

It turns out the out-of-state RV rental tax was never the intent of the legislation. That was a rumor, said Bealieu, based on a comment by a citizen during public testimony. The actual intent of bill LD 1809 is to tax the fee that a Maine RV rental business charges its customers, much the same as car renters do.

Late Friday afternoon (March 9, 2012), Maine Revenue Services issued this statement: "Maine does not impose under current law a sales or use tax on RVs rented out of state and driven into Maine by vacationers. Nor does a Maine sales or use tax apply against the out-of-state rental company for the use in Maine of such rented RVs. Currently there is no pending legislation that will change this law or MRS’ application of this law."