SIGN HERE: Stop Big Box Stores From Short-Changing Maine
Maine State Legislature
Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust is requesting to lower its assessed property value for its Ellsworth store from $20.1 million to $10 million, cutting its taxes in Ellsworth by upwards of $180,000 annually.
How is this even possible? Through the employment of the “dark store assessment.”
The dark store assessment is a loophole used by big box stores, such as Walmart, to lower their property taxes. Corporations value their active locations as if they were vacant storefronts, costing local communities tens of thousands of dollars in revenue.
Our towns cannot be beholden to corporations like Walmart, who use our infrastructure and our labor to benefit themselves. We cannot allow them to deny us the revenue needed to maintain our roads, educate our children, and maintain a decent quality of life for Maine’s working families.
Sign if you agree: Stop big box stores from short-changing Maine.
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Maine State Legislature
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Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust is requesting to lower its assessed property value for its Ellsworth store from $20.1 million to $10 million, cutting its taxes in Ellsworth by upwards of $180,000 annually via the “dark store assessment.”
The dark store assessment is a loophole used by big box stores, such as Walmart, to lower their property taxes. Corporations value their active locations as if they were vacant storefronts, costing local communities tens of thousands of dollars in revenue.
Our towns cannot be beholden to corporations like Walmart, who use our infrastructure and our labor to benefit themselves. We cannot allow them to deny us the revenue needed to maintain our roads, educate our children, and maintain a decent quality of life for Maine’s working families.
The Maine Legislature must pass legislation to close the dark store assessment loophole and stop big box stores from short-changing Maine.