Maine might extend takeout alcohol through September 2022 lmtonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lmtonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Wrap: Extend cocktails to go? Plus new restaurants in Yarmouth and Portland
And more Valentine s options for all of you procrastinators.
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Maine lawmakers on Monday held a hearing on a bill that would extend sales of beer, wine and cocktails-to-go from restaurants and bars until April 15, 2022.
The bill, which was before the Maine Joint Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, would also allow licensed Maine distilleries and small distilleries that operate tasting rooms to continue to sell spirits through takeout and delivery services until that same date.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States testified in favor of the bill. In his testimony, Jay Hibbard, senior vice president of government relations for the council, said that during the pandemic, cocktails-to-go have “provided a meaningful source of revenue to the many struggling hospitality businesses across the state of Maine, and extending those privileges will help these businesses recover while prov
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Facing backlash from businesses over a proposal to tax forgivable coronavirus relief loans as income, Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday that her administration will look for federal funding that would allow the state to make the loans tax-free while still covering a projected $100 million budget shortfall.
Mills’ budget calls for taxing the forgivable loans, which provided aid to businesses that struggled to continue operating as the pandemic spread around the country last year. Forgiven loans are normally taxed as income, but the federal government is exempting the Paycheck Protection Program loans, which were intended to help businesses keep workers on the payroll and help with some other expenses as the pandemic caused a sharp slowdown in the economy.
Plans by states, including Maine, to tax PPP loans are creating a backlash from businesses.
Under the budget proposal from Gov. Janet Mills, loans proceeds under the federal Paycheck Protection Program would be taxed as ordinary income.
States would use such taxes to compensate for revenue lost in other areas in the past year.
If that part of the budget is approved, Maine could see revenue of $100 million.
The Maine State Chamber of Commerce is among the organizations that have weighed in against that idea, testifying before the state Legislature.
Dana Connors, president and CEO of the chamber, part of the original appeal of the PPP was the aspect of it being a tax-free loan at both the federal and state level.
Mills’ budget proposal would tax Paycheck Protection Program funds as income
The Legislature s tax and budget committees met Monday to hear testimony on a set of proposals by Gov. Janet Mills that could leave some businesses paying state taxes on loans exempt from federal taxes.
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Maine businesses would have to pay state income taxes on forgivable federal Paycheck Protection Program loans that are not taxed by the federal government under a budget proposal from Gov. Janet Mills.
The administration told the Legislature on Monday that state government could be facing a more than $100 million revenue shortfall if the state were to fully conform with changes to the federal tax code passed by Congress in December. Those changes exempted PPP loans from federal income taxes while allowing businesses to also claim the expenses the loans helped pay for.