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| 📷 FILE - The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington, on March 22, 2013. (AP photo by Susan Walsh) |
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🧾 Here's a deeper look at an IRS decision to not tax Maine relief checks.
◉ The IRS decided on Friday that Maine's $850 round of relief checks from last year won't be taxed federally. Here's your soundtrack.
◉ In a statement, the agency said the decision was made "in the interest of sound tax administration and other factors." While Maine and 16 other states with similar programs got off tax-free, some residents of four states including Massachusetts that processed programs as tax returns will be taxed.
◉ State tax expert Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation praised the decision generally, saying the IRS took a sweeping pro-taxpayer view." But he also notes that the agency "bent the rules" and took a formalistic approach with the four states when every resident who got a check benefited similarly.
◉ It was good news for Gov. Janet Mills and her administration, who risked taking some flack for the design of the program had the checks been taxed. In the end, the IRS matched the state's prediction that checks would not be.
💍 Top Democrats are behind a bill to bar child marriages in Maine.
◉ Another push to bar Mainers younger than 18 from marrying looks like it is in good position to pass, with Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, co-sponsoring a measure to do so from Rep. Kevin O'Connell, D-Brewer.
◉ Under current law, Mainers need to reach 18 to decide to marry on their own. Parental consent is needed for those aged 16 and 17. Parental and judicial consent are needed for younger children. This bill would wipe out the consent pieces and require each party to a marriage be 18.
◉ These marriages are rare but far from unheard of in Maine. Between 2014 and 2018, 58 Mainers below age 18 got married, according to state data. All of them were 16 and 17, and only four marriages were between two minors. In 10 such marriages, age gaps were greater than five years. Seven of those were between people born outside the U.S., where cultural norms are different.
◉ A similar measure died between houses in the last Legislature, but the presiding officers at that time were not on the bill. |
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What we're reading
🔒 Maine prison guards mocked prisoners, disparaged minorities and shared confidential documents in an online chat. None were fired.
🔎 A whistleblower alleges financial improprieties at Maine Veterans Homes.
🏠 Affordable housing will be a top goal in Bangor's new comprehensive plan.
💊 This opioid alternative is starting to show up Maine's illicit drug market.
🩹 Searsport created Maine's first civilian team of first responders. |
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