Maine has a long tradition of personal self-reliance, and Yankee ingenuity. It is probably named after the French province of Maine. Another possibility for the name "Maine" is that the people living on islands along the coast of Maine used to speak of going to the mainland as "going over to the main."
Four U.S. Navy ships have been named USS Maine in honor of the state.
The noted American ecologist Rachel Carson did much of her research at one of the Maine seacoast's most characteristic features, a tide pool for her classic "The Edge of the Sea." The spot where she conducted observations is now preserved as the Rachel Carson Salt Pond Reserve at Pemaquid Point.
Estcourt Station is Maine's northernmost point and also the northernmost point in the continental United States.
Maine is the number one exporter of blueberries and toothpicks. Maine is the only state that borders only one other U.S. state (New Hampshire). Cadillac Mountain sees the first sunlight in the United States on winter mornings. Maine has 62 lighthouses.
Economy
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Maine's total gross state product for 2003 was US$41 billion. Its per capita personal income for 2003 was US$29,164, 29th in the nation.
Maine's agricultural outputs are seafood (notably lobsters), poultry and eggs, dairy products, cattle, blueberries, apples, and maple sugar. Aroostook County is known for its potato crops. Western Maine aquifers and springs are a major source of bottled water. Its industrial outputs consist of mainly paper, lumber and wood products, electronic equipment, leather products, food products, textiles, and bio-technology. Naval shipbuilding and construction remain key as well, with Bath Iron Works in Bath and Portsmouth Naval Yard in Kittery. Brunswick Naval Air Station is also in Maine, and serves as a large support base for the U.S. Navy. However, the BRAC campaign recommended Brunswick's closing, despite significant recent investment by the government to upgrade its facilities.
Maine ports play a key role in national transportation. Beginning around 1880, Portland's rail link and ice-free port made it Canada's principal winter port, until the aggressive development of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the mid-1900s. In 2001, Maine's largest city of Portland surpassed Boston as New England's busiest port (by tonnage), due to its ability to handle large tankers. Maine's Portland International Jetport was recently expanded, providing the state with increased air traffic from carriers such as jetBlue.
Maine has a small trapping industry which, with 3,157 resident trappers, is larger than that of most Eastern states (Source: Portland Press Herald, January 23, 2005. Note: Many trappers are part-time). The principal pelt taken by value is beaver. Historically, however, beaver trapping was much more significant in the North Woods and Canadian Maritimes than the small industry of today and was the cause of much early wealth and many trading settlements.
Maine has very few large companies that maintain headquarters in the state, and fewer than before due to consolidations and mergers, particularly in the pulp and paper industry. Structurally, this could be a weakness in an economy that depends on extracting forest and sea resources, because decisions that affect the long-range stability of the resource base are being made in distant locations which do not have to live with the day-to-day consequences of their policies. Some of the very few large companies that do maintain headquarters in Maine include Fairchild Semiconductor (South Portland) , IDEXX Laboratories (a large veterinary biotech company in Westbrook), insurance giant Unum Provident (Portland) , the famous outdoor supply retailer L. L. Bean (Freeport), and MBNA (Brunswick). Maine is also the home of The Jackson Laboratory, a non-profit institution and the world's largest mammalian genetic research facility.
Maine has an income tax structure containing 4 brackets, which range from 2% to 8.5% of personal income. Maine's general sales tax rate is 5%. The state also levies charges of 7% on lodging and prepared food and 10% on short-term auto rentals. Commercial sellers of blueberries, a Maine staple, must keep records of their transactions and pay the state 1.5 cents per pound ($1.50 per 100 pounds) of the fruit sold each season. All real and tangible personal property located in the state of Maine is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. While property taxes in Maine are assessed at the local level, municipal assessors are governed by state statutes that are administered by the Property Tax Division of Maine Revenue Services. The division consists of two sections: Municipal Services and Unorganized Territory. The administration of property taxes is handled by the local assessor in incorporated cities and towns. Property tax bills are issued by the municipality where the property is located on either an annual, semi-annual or quarterly basis. Property taxes in unorganized territory are handled by the State Tax Assessor.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/
