“Let’s see those tax bills”
PRESS RELEASE October 9, 2023
Beaches group: “Let’s see those tax bills”
Advocacy organization suspects nobody pays taxes on Maine’s intertidal lands
(Biddeford, Maine) After it was discovered this summer that no beachfront owner at Moody Beach in Wells pays taxes on intertidal land down to the low water mark, “Our Maine Beaches” is inviting beachfront owners along other sections of the coast to produce tax bills proving they pay taxes on sand or seaweed over which sea water routinely flows.
The group is inviting anyone who pays property taxes on wet sand to send copies of their tax bill to OurMaineBeaches@yahoo.com, the email address connected to the Our Maine Beaches website. It will report results to the media on Monday, November 13th.
“Let’s see those tax bills,” said Mark Robinson, a public relations consultant in Biddeford and a volunteer with Our Maine Beaches. “At Moody Beach a handful of cottage owners routinely intimidate and bully other residents to keep them off the beach. And yet it’s been documented that none of them are paying taxes on that land. In a local paper the exact quote from their attorney last month was, ‘You can’t close the line. You can’t put pins in a low-water mark.’ So I think a lot of people would like to know, does anyone in any part of Maine pay property tax on wet sand, even if nobody at Moody Beach does?”
Robinson said if any municipality is actually collecting revenue on such land, towns like Wells could follow suit and begin collecting substantial additional tax revenues from beachfront cottage owners. The question of back taxes might also arise. If no evidence comes in that intertidal lands produce tax revenue for coastal municipalities, he said the notion that the people of Maine can use all beaches and intertidal lands gains considerable momentum.
“I’m watching this issue closely on social media. People are against taking anyone’s private property, and rightly so. But they are also strongly for the idea that owning property requires paying taxes on that property. As the debate on beach uses continues, let’s find out how much revenue all this land is generating for Maine’s towns and cities,” Robinson said.
About Our Maine Beaches
Our Maine Beaches is an informal collaboration of residents throughout the state that supports any and all efforts to restore reasonable uses of coastal beaches and intertidal lands to the people of Maine. Its Facebook page has 1,200 followers and its website (www.OurBeaches.me) has attracted more than 20,000 unique visitors since the site was established in April of 2021. The site exists solely on the strength of voluntary contributions from professional vendors and citizen content providers.
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