Baldacci's Re-election Plan
Thank you for your article on the elimination of the business and equipment tax. (See " Baldacci's Re-election Plan ," by Lance Tapley, January 20.) A friend of mine sent me this article because of the pertinence to the issues Jay would be facing if this indeed did happen.
Jay is one of the communities that has the largest percentage of this personal property. It is 76 percent of our tax base and constitutes a huge amount of our tax revenue. Common sense dictates that if the proponents of this bill want to make the municipalities whole, the money needs to come from somewhere. It is a major tax shift from some other pot of money. There is a lot of work going into this to make sure everyone is happy, but the bottom line is, someone is going to be a loser, if not today then down the road. I am sure that the school districts that would lose educational subsidy and the other municipalities in the county that would have to pick up the shift of that tax will not be happy to lose their revenue.
If tax cuts are an enticement to development, then why has BETR not worked? This is a reimbursement program that has been in effect for many years. We are told it is the uncertainty of the program. The municipalities also view a reimbursement program from the state as being uncertain. We have experienced these uncertainties for years. We cannot guarantee that future legislatures or governors will not change the way business is being done in Maine.
The only way this would work is if there was a broad-based change in the way taxes are appropriated. This is an election year and it is an excellent time for us to send the message that we don’t want a major shift of taxes onto the residential and small business owner. We cannot afford another shift that will drive more of our young and old people out of the state. Please call your representatives and senators and tell them to stop the shift of the burden.
Ruth Marden
Town Manager
Jay
State House Democrats Stick It To Political Reformers
I wanted to thank you for your article on the MCLF. (See " State House Democrats Stick It To Political Reformers ," by Lance Tapley, January 13.) I have worked with members of the MCLF on election reform, and the possibility of the MCLF stopping their work that is not supported by the Democratic party I find especially troubling. I am a large proponent of Instant Run-off Voting, which is not supported by the major parties, but is (was?) supported by the MCLF (Douglas Clopp was always involved).
So thank you for keeping me informed, and letting me know that I need to do some digging at the MCLF to see what is happening.
