Commercial Forestry Excise Tax

36 M.R.S. §§ 2721 - 2726

The Commercial Forestry Excise Tax (CFET) is imposed on owners of more than 500 acres of commercial forest land. The purpose of the tax is to partially offset the costs of forest fire protection expenditures of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Conservation.

The state collects about $2.5 million in CFET tax each year. There are about 750 accounts, including over 9 million taxable acres.

Commercial Forestry Excise Tax Return

CFET Historical Data

Assessment
Year

Fire Suppression Costs
from DACF
Taxable
Acreage
CFET Rate
per acre
CFET
Committed Tax
2015 $ 6,185,955 9,254,278  0.268 $ 2,482,925
2016 $ 6,280,391 9,346,068 0.269 $ 2,512,156
2017 $ 6,418,019 9,181,048 0.280 $ 2,574,948
2018 $ 5,139,622 9,085,518 0.224 $ 2,038,092
2019 $ 6,896,863 9,076,492 0.304 $ 2,762,011
2020 $ 5,638,446 9,068,680 0.249 $ 2,260,588
2021 $ 7,393,176 9,087,137 0.326  $ 2,957,270
2022 $ 5,780,614 9,104,683 0.254 $ 2,316,880