I like the idea of the government letting me keep more of what I earn in my own pocket. Then it is up to me to spend it as I see fit. I see it as desirable to have to pay higher sales taxes than income taxes. There are several models of States where this formula of income tax versus sales tax works well. Particularly in tourist revenue driven states such as ours. If as a country we plead tax poverty while at the same time spend over a billion dollars in one weekend to go to the cinema, I can see room for a correction there. Leave my income alone. While it is somewhat disingenuous to remind the republicans of which party brought income and sales taxes to Maine in the first place, it is fair to warn them that in perpetuating this latest political ruse that sometimes you get what you ask for.

I bet this veto passes easily; the law that passed is nothing more than a shell game designed to make it "appear" that Maine has a lower tax burden than it actually does.

You pay less income tax initially but lose just about all current deductions, for my family it would have been about a net $100 increase in taxes had it been in effect last year.

It's like taking a $20 bill out of someone's pocket (lowering the income tax), handing it to them (higher sales tax and loss of tax deductions), and saying "Hey, Look, I just gave you $20! Please thank me for this reform!"

I like the idea of the government not taking as much out of my pocket also but this bill does not do that for me. If I didn't change anything I would get a $2,500 income tax increase from this bill. I have elderly clients with one of them in the nursing home getting a $3,000 income tax increase due to the elimination of the medical deductions. The bill does more than lowers the top income tax rate. It taxes income that was not taxed before (your deductions and exemptions). For a married couple taking the standard deduction that is an increase of $991. There are also four tax brackets (2.0%, 4.55, 7.0% & 8.5%) and they all were changed to 6.5%, the bottom bottom two being raised. The change in the bottom three rates results in an icrease of $535. That is $1,526 increase that is partialy compensated for with tax credits. A married couple making $50,000 and taking the standard deduction would get a cut of $140 before the sales tax increases. That is a cut of .28%. You would think that once the couple's income reached the old 8.5% bracket they would start getting a cut of 2% on each dollar additional they made. However, they start phasing out the tax credit at that amount resulting in a 8% tax rate from $55,000 to $168,000 of income. The tax cut as a percentage of income rises with income. A couple making $1 million would get a cut of 1.47% of income. Many of those itemizing deductions will see an increase in taxes due the way the new tax is calculated.

As one of the high tax state we get a vote if we want more nice. great for us.

Sales taxes are the most regressive form of taxation. The family of 4 living on $40,000 pays the same tax on bathroom tissue as the family of 3 living on $100,000. Just an example. A tax on movie theater tickets will impact Mainers and the theaters, not tourists. Lowering the income tax for high income people benefits only a few but the sales taxes negatively impact most Mainers.

Repeal LD 1495!!

WilliamDS is 'right on target'--shell game--repeal and listen to Augusta whine--and try it again.

It takes the tax of the "ones" pulling the wagon and places the tax on the "ones" riding in the wagon.

If this is the same bill, LD 1495, and I believe it is, the story seems to have left out the fact that not only will we be paying sales taxes on materials purchased but also NOW we will pay that same amount of sales tax on the labor to install the purchased materials, which in my opinion is akin to penalizing us for doing the work so if this bill passes hang on to your wallets, if you have had any work done at the car garages or any work done on your home lately you know that the labor piles up a lot higher than the parts/ material portion of your bill, and you will no longer pay sales taxes on just parts/ materials you will pay sales tax on the entire bill. and believe me this is an end user tax the person doing the work will collect from the customer, smoke and mirrors people........ go to the polls and be counted on this one, if they are allowed to tax you for performing a service there really is not much left that you won't be taxed on sooner rather than later.

This Law was I bad idea from a Bad Government in Augusta! Can't wait till June not only because it will be warner here in Maine but because of my vote to get rid of this bad idea!

This looks like a trap, so what will they tax instead that will cost more. Baldacci should give up the big life long pay he got for serving 8 years, cut them off at 4 years. Be a real man give up that retirement check get a real job for $5.00 and hour and earn your retirement.

I make several hundred thousand a year, and will be relocating my small business out of New York City, along with a job or two (more jobs if I expand).

I am also a saver not a spender (my car, for example, is 30 years old. OK, call me Scrooge), so lowering the income tax and raising the sales tax makes Maine much more attractive a destination for me to move along with my business.

If you want businesses and jobs to move to Maine, lowering personal income tax will help.

CEO's of bigger companies than mine, have been know to relocate their businesses to places that the CEO's enjoy for personal reasons. If they have to pay a high personal income tax, it works against that location.

Oh, for God's sake, this again. If the prime movers behind these endless "voter veto" referenda feel that strongly that the policies set in Augusta are such bad ideas, why do they not vote for office and attack the problem from inside the framework rather than constantly whittering about it from without this way? Oh, no, that's right, they're ineligible - most of them live in some other state.

After so many nationally prominent republicans urge adoption of a national flat tax or a sales tax instead of an income tax, I find it odd that any republican would want to raise an income tax and lower a sales tax!

What? No, not "vote for office". Run for office. Although, I suppose, it's still true - it's not like they can vote out the offending legislators either, since they don't live in their districts. Man, I'm so fed up with out-of-state agitators I can't even tell them off properly any more.

NewYorkGuy,scrooge didn't pay his hired help very well as I recall, and it wouldn't appear as though you will do much for the auto sales in our fine state ether... you say you make several hundred thousand a year and you are thinking Maine might be a good place to relocate to and the income tax switcharoo that Augusta is about to spring on the unsuspecting tax payers looks good to you, I'm not sure I want to know what your employee or two has to do to earn there keep but if it earns you that much per year I would find some place warmer than Maine to hide, Your not into wind power are you? some people in Maine don't like wind power people,or so I have heard

""After so many nationally prominent republicans urge adoption of a national flat tax or a sales tax instead of an income tax, I find it odd that any republican would want to raise an income tax and lower a sales tax!

Though I suppect you are a troll this bill is a bait and switch. If you go to the Boston Federal Reserve website you can find an article by Mr Woodbury (sorry got to go out or I would provide a link) that discussed the fact that it is more important to give the illusion of lowering the top tax rate than it is actually lowering it. Even though most of the income tax cuts are going to the rich 25% of the top 10% of taxpayers will see an income tax increase from this bill. They lowered a rate and changed the base. I guess is it odd that the Democrats want to raise income tax on those with high medical bills and give a tax cut to the rich.

It is a choice of which is the lesser of two evils. Everything that has been attempted to be pushed on us Mainers so far has had hidden pitfalls. They try and make there way seem great but 95% of the state suffers somehow. Think carefully of who you support politicians support what is most important to them there bank accounts. Yes there are a few good politicians out there but there are few of them and I wouldn't trust any one pushing something that sounds to good to be true. Why haven't they mentioned the downfalls to this new bill yet, because they don't want us to know.

mcrafty1 wrote: "NewYorkGuy,scrooge didn't pay his hired help very well as I recall, and it wouldn't appear as though you will do much for the auto sales in our fine state ether."

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People who know me tell me I am niggardly toward myself, but generous to others. I guess like Scrooge at the end of the movie.

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And I think Augusta wants to generate more from sales taxes, because personal income has fallen with the recession, so they need to get the tax money out of you some other way.

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(BTW, My 33 year old car is a 4 cylinder Volvo---but back in those days a Volvo wasn't much of a luxury car. I bought it because it was built like a truck. And hey, it's still running after all these years. If Scrooge owned a car, it would be a 1977 Volvo 244).

CC SiddFinch

Get ready folks, because Maine's new democrat/socialist party and all of their Far Left Extreme Liberals want us to pay MORE in taxes and are going to fight hard against this People's Veto. However, the 2-pages of simple facts about LD 1495 are posted at

http://stillfedupwithtaxes.net/nfib/

and we need people to read them. LD 1495 will cost most Mainers MORE money and must get defeated... but the ACORN-SEIU machine will be coming out in force to help liberals raise-those-taxes.

As you have probably noticed over the past few years, the extreme liberals are attempting to destroy our state and country with major tax increases and their pro-socialism agenda. It's time for action, and I hope you will join our 'common sense' efforts at Maine Taxpayers United,

www.MaineTaxpayers.com

and now on Facebook.

Happy New Year to all.