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Another little word is "refundable" which means if no taxes are owed the public owes the holder a cash payment- or equivalent there of.

They use these in Maine in conjuction with tax exemptions that are in separate acts and often worth 100% of the holder's taxes.

But in the media and on the state websites "refundable tax credits" are referred to simply as "tax credits. To know that it is a refundable tax credit, one must read the statute. The name of one tax credit is the Seed Caputal Tax Credit, but it is really The Seed Capital Refundable Tax Credit.

A refundable tax credit compined with a tax exemption is a subsidy.

In Maine at one point the Seed Capital (refundable) Tax credit was once worth 60% of the corporation's capitalization costs. Its now been reduced to 40% and that is also high. Then there are the matching funds. First stop by and pick up your tax exemption, then get your matching fund- and then your Seed Capital (refundable) tax credit. I do not know if there were stipulations about combining the matching fund and the tax credit but I have not come across any and I have been reading the statutes for years. A lot of things are acheived by the State Legislature through the ommission method of writing bills.

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