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1983 Maine Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (1983)

handle is hein.sag/sagme0011 and id is 1 raw text is: 83-1 JAMES E. TIERNEY ATTORNEY GENERAL S'rAmr OF M1AINE: DEPARTMENT OF riE AITORNEY GENERAL AUGUSTA, MAINE 04.133 January 7, 1983 Honorable Andrew J. Redmond Maine Senate State House Augusta, Maine 04333 Dear Senator Redmond: This letter responds to your request for a written opinion concerning possible amendment of the Tree Growth Tax Law, 36 M.R.S.A. § 571, et seq. This law provides for valuation of timberland for property tax purposes according to its current use as allowed by a 1970 amendment of Article IX, section 8 of the Maine Constitution. The practical effect of this law is to reduce the property tax burden to forest landowners in the State of Maine who fall within its terms. You have asked whether it would be constitutionally permissible to condition the benefits of the Tree Growth Tax Law upon the processing of sawlogs and pulpwood within the State. For the reasons set forth below, it is the opinion of this Office that such an amendment would constitute an impermissible burden upon interstate and foreign commerce under the Commerce Clause, article 1, section 8, clause 3 of the United States Constitution, and would also be violative of the import-export clause, article 1, section 10 of the United States Constitution. The pertinent facts, as we understand them, are as follows. Businesses which process Maine timber, both domestic and foreign, resident and nonresident, may have production facilities within the state as well as facilities in other states and in foreign countries, principally Canada. The capital investment in production facilities is large. The loc- tion of production facilities is governed by the type and