Under current law, 90% of the revenue from the real estate transfer tax is submitted to the State and 10% is retained by the counties, except that, for fiscal years 2025-26 and
2026-27, the percentage retained by the counties is reduced to 9.2%. This bill reduces the percentage of the real estate transfer tax revenue retained by counties by 1.8% and requires 1% of the revenue to be transferred to the Maine State Housing Authority for deposit in the shelter operating subsidy program beginning September 1, 2026; beginning August 1, 2027, 1.8% of the revenue is required to be transferred to the Maine State Housing Authority to be allocated as part of the operations share of the shelter operating subsidy program. Beginning September 1, 2026, the percentage of the real estate transfer tax retained by counties is reduced to 8.2%.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 2124, HP 1439: 36.4641