Hmm...Orono and Bar Harbor, two of the most yuppy liberal towns in the state. Of course they are against Tabor II.

These people continue to vote their own agenda, not the wishes of the citizens. The citizens need to take back control of the state and decide major issues ourselves.

Our elected officials are our employees, people seems to forget that. They still have the power to vote themselves raises, they gave themselves superior health care and retirement. How did they get this power? Nobody seems to have the answer to this question and I have asked many.

It doesn't matter if it's schools, gay marriage, excise tax, illegal aliens, or whatever the major issues are....WE should be deciding these issues, not them.

I am for anything that takes the power away from these people and puts it back in the hands of the people.

So the new TABOR wants to limit government spending and the politicians who have spent our tax dollars like drunken sailors don't support it. Hmmm....

Apparently they did not read the new tax reform. All the lower tax brackets were increased to 6.5%. This is not a savings to the poorest in the state but an increase. They have also taken away any deductions that people previously had so their taxes will go up despite what they have lowered the top tax bracket to. There is no savings that is passed along to the people of this state, just a re-arrangement on how we are taxed as we are now taxed on products and services we were not taxed on before. If they cannot reduce their spending than TABOR is a good way to get them to reduce spending. The problem with this is that they will reduce their spending on the critical infrastructure items and not reduce on their pet projects, thus fulfilling their prophecy. Vote these people out of office. Do not vote for any incumbents for a couple of voting cycles and they will get the idea.

LD 1495;

Another note on this supposedly "meaningful and responsible tax bill" that the liberals have enacted. Apparently they never have the need to have their vehicles repaired either (perhaps we pay for that also).

The labor to repair your vehicle is more often 2-3 times the cost of the part being replaced. Now the labor will be taxed also, this is not a "modest" tax increase.

Why can't they get through their thick skulls that we want tax CUTS, not rearranging the taxes, which is all they do.

Please read below, if you are not a politician, it should hit home with you.

"545 PEOPLE"

By Charlie Reese

"Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security, but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!"

--------------------------------------

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

The recent "reform" was yet another progressive shift-and-shaft attempting to politically head off geniuine limits on spending and taxes by substituting a political maneuver falsely called "reform". This article by Reps. Martin and Flemings misrepresents the latest tax shift, promotes their philosophy of unethically raising taxes on a helpless political minority including those who can't vote, and trashes and misrepresents the proposed TABOR requirements for controlling further increases in government spending by requiring citizen approval. By denouncing limits on taxes and promoting the latest increases as "reform", as if this tactic should take the place of any further genuine citizen reform, they confirm the Augusta leadership's shell game intended to keep spending and taxes increasing while shafting anyone they can. Those who oppose limits on government power advocate unlimited government at the expense of all of us.