Sure, every state is trying to maximize the tax it collects, but for many of us interested in keeping our boats in Maine the key sentence was Roger Long's: "The law says that no tax is owed after the first year of ownership if the boat is kept outside of Maine for under 30 days during that first year." In other words, yes you might owe use or sales tax if you purchased a boat in NH or RI and brought it into Maine in the first year of ownership, but not probably otherwise. If you purchase it somewhere like Massachusetts, the sales tax would be credited towards the Maine use tax.

Believe me other states are much worse. The annual property tax on a boat I owned in South Carolina was about four times Maine's annual excise tax. The yearly registration in RI must be supplemented by a MSD inspection every few years which then requires a whopping big ugly sticker be stuck on the stern of your beauty. For NY residents like me if I bring my boat into the state for one minute our sales tax is due, even though I bought the boat seven years ago in RI and have kept it out of state the whole time. Connecticut has no opt out either if you owned the boat more than a year--sales or use is due when you start keeping it there. Mass. strangely is one of the more lenient ones. They have the one-year rule like Maine, but you don't have to register a documented vessel at all--just pay the local excise tax if you rent a dock or a mooring somewhere, and the tax is pretty modest. In any case, different states have their different rules and it pays to check them out if you plan on moving your boat from one state to another.