UPDATE: Late in the afternoon of Thursday, March 26, Governor Mills announced she is extending Maine’s April 15 tax deadline to July 15.
MPBP asked Mainers to reach out to the Governor and let her know that Maine’s deadline needed to be moved to help our families and businesses in this crisis. The overwhelming response forced the Governor to move the deadline to July 15. Thank you for sharing our message. And to all of you who took the time to reach out, well done.
The Trump Administration extended the April 15 tax-filing deadline to July 15 to give people and businesses more time to prepare and pay their taxes and to use that cash to pay their workers instead of filling government coffers.
As of March 25, 22 states have similarly extended tax filing dates to July 15, including California, Connecticut, and North Carolina.
Governor Janet Mills has not delayed Maine’s April 15 deadline. In fact, she is actually “disappointed” with the IRS tax deadline change.
In response to a question about whether she will delay the deadline to July 15 at her press conference on March 24, Governor Mills stated:
“In terms of the income tax filing deadline. I’m disappointed. I think most states, most state governors are not particularly happy with the federal government’s action. We are conferring among ourselves and with our own treasuries and revenue services about what we can do. How we can accommodate the federal government’s extension without sacrificing state finances overly. So we’re looking at that. Have not made a decision about the April 15 deadline which is now in effect in Maine.”
The state budget is built on revenue projections. Before the coronavirus situation hit, the state was projecting surplus revenue over the budget. Just last week, they passed $73 million more in state spending in the supplemental budget, more than half of which had nothing to do with coronavirus response or health care, based on projections that will never be realized.
Hardworking Maine families need this cash to make ends meet, and businesses need it to pay workers.
Contact Governor Mills here and urge her to delay the state’s income tax filing deadline.