Income of wealthiest in Maine nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020, report shows

Sarah Austin, director of policy and research at the Maine Center for Economic Policy, said because there weren’t any big changes to the tax code between those two years, that increase in liability for the wealthiest 30 earners in 2020 over 2019 “is a reflection of how much income is being reported by the richest people in the state.”

Austin said assuming that the 30 wealthiest filers in Maine paid about 7% in state income tax, the average income of those in that cohort went from about $16.7 million in 2019 to about $32.5 million in 2020, although she added that the richest 30 filers in Maine in 2019 weren’t necessarily the same people as the richest 30 in 2020.

Click here to read the full story, first published December 2, 2021, in Beacon.