Gov John Baldacci
Posted on 04/13/2005 5:06:10 AM PDT by SheLion
AUGUSTA - The smell of rawhide was in the air Monday at the State House as Mary Adams pulled out a horse bridle to convince the Legislature's Taxation Committee her Maine Taxpayer Bill of Rights was the best hope of bringing state spending under control.
“I have a little pony named Stormy who's not particularly agreeable to going where the rider wants until we put this bit in her mouth and grab the reins — then Stormy behaves,” said the Garland tax activist as she dangled the leather and steel bridle toward the panel.
“State government is much like Stormy. It'll get away with what it can until you put a bit in its mouth and give the reins to the people of Maine [in the form of] the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Maine people are ready, they want discipline and they mean business.”
Even as Adams was touting the benefits of her proposal Monday, the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation released its latest findings placing Maine as the highest-taxed state in the country with a combined state, county and municipal tax burden equal to 13 percent of the average Mainer's disposable income.
Citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis collected through Dec. 31 of last year, the Tax Foundation said Mainers will work until April 23 to pay all of their taxes while the national average will be April 17.
Maine has held the top slot on the conservative think tank's tax analysis for the last three years and has been even higher, coming in at 13.3 percent in 2001, according to the organization's Web site, www.taxfoundation.org.
By comparison, neighboring New Hampshire came in 49th with a tax burden of 7.4 percent. In a prepared statement, Bill Becker, executive director of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, said the report should “come as no surprise.”
“The governor and the Legislature raised taxes, fines and fees hundreds of million of dollars over the last year and they ignored federal tax breaks, costing Maine families additional millions,” Becker said. “The most disturbing aspect of this whole situation is that all the while, they claimed to not raise taxes.”
Gov. John E. Baldacci immediately got one of the state's top tax analysts to scrutinize the data and agreed the state “does have a higher tax burden than the national average.”
But Baldacci added that if the foundation's review had included the new property tax reform measures and spending cuts passed by the Legislature since Jan. 1, the state would have been closer to 11 percent than 13 percent.
“And the data we're using is from the U.S. Census Bureau in terms of per capita income and tax burden to determine whether the state is making progress or not, and we have seen our state tax burden decline on that scale from eighth to thirteenth,” Baldacci said, emphasizing he was able to deliver an additional $250 million in property tax relief this year without a broad-based tax increase.
Sen. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, said that despite the governor's characterizations of recently enacted legislation, more needed to be done in Maine to guarantee a government that state taxpayers can afford.
As the primary sponsor of the bill encompassing Mary Adams' Maine Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Andrews predicted majority Democrats in the Maine Legislature will be dealing with the measure either voluntarily with her bill or at the ballot box in November 2006.
“Even with the so-called tax reform that was passed in January, many communities are saying they did not get tax relief,” she said. “We need to control spending and we need to control tax increases. We can do this now or we can do this later. But [the Taxpayer Bill of Rights] will be back.”
Modeled after similar legislation in Colorado, LD 1011 is the same measure Adams hopes to place before Maine voters providing she can gather 50,519 signatures by this Oct. 21 for its inclusion on the November 2006 ballot.
The bill limits spending for state, county, municipal and school budgets by tying any increases in expenditures to growth in population and inflation for governments and to population and student enrollment for school systems.
The Taxation Committee has scheduled a work session on LD 1011 for 1 p.m. Thursday. Lawmakers could amend the bill if they wish. If they reject it, Adams has promised to continue her quest to place the question on the ballot.
Should she prove successful, the next Legislature would only be allowed to enact the measure as is, allow it to proceed to the ballot box or offer an alternative to appear as a competing measure at the ballot box.
“The Taxpayer Bill of Rights is our friend because it will stalk the halls of the State House on behalf of the taxpayer and rein in spending even while we sleep,” Adams said Monday.
Gov John Baldacci
And everyone wonders why we are the poorest state in the nation!!!
Funny, I would have not thought that.
No no no. You are misreading the article incorrectly. ;-)
Maine is TOPS!! We're number one!! The winnah!!
LOL
Had you heard about the time during on Legislative session in Mass that booze and food was brought in, and a toga party was held right there in the State House? The Republicans screamed, the Democrats sheepishly denied it, and the people did nothing. Youmay as well get used to that, becuase Maine can't be far behind.
He has already put his lies and spin on this!
Gov. John E. Baldacci immediately got one of the state's top tax analysts to scrutinize the data and agreed the state “does have a higher tax burden than the national average.”
But Baldacci added that if the foundation's review had included the new property tax reform measures and spending cuts passed by the Legislature since Jan. 1, the state would have been closer to 11 percent than 13 percent.
There's just too many Kool-Aid drinkers in the state of Maine.
Oh that makes me feel better. We are becoming the California of the east coast.
The people never do nothing! We are all sheeple out here! And they know it. 
The rest of what he said couldn't even be printed in the PPH.
Let's see now, he would come for three to five weeks, rent a car and ddrop a bundel of money. His daughters made anual trips to the bangor mall and the maine mall, so how much will maine loose this year from his family?
Baldacci and David hastings are idots to say the least.
I know it..............
BIG idiots! Probably in the back room making their "deals" and coming up with more ways to screw Mainers! Baldy wants to get in all that he can before the next election. So hold on! This man's elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor!
Only 13%? I question the validity of the data presented. Does this include sales tax? If not, then it may be valid, but if it does, then I disagree.
Yes, but think of the generous, all-encompassing public services Baldacci gives you for that measily 13 percent of your income. Your public schools are the best in the nation, your health care is free and high quality, your roads are clean and well-kept, you have no crime because of the effective and well-funded law enforcement policies, and there is no poverty.
She's been my hero since I moved to Maine.
I can't wait to sign that petition.
Maine needs a "Governater".
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