It’s a budget problem, not a DHHS problem.
That simple truth should guide members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee as they consider Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to close a $220 million gap in the Department of Health and Human Services budget. Certainly the shortfall is real, and certainly the state can and should consider changing the level of health assistance it provides the needy.
But the governor has defined the problem in very narrow terms, ignoring about $150 million in tax cuts his first budget, signed last year, will provide. Those cuts include a reduction in the top income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 7.95 percent, and a bump in the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in from $1 million to $2 million. Some of the tax changes could be delayed.
Cutting the tax rate is an important step toward rebuilding Maine’s image as a friendly place to do business. But if those cuts come too soon or are so steep as to push 65,000 people off health insurance, they should be reconsidered.
To give an idea of who benefits from the new estate tax policy, consider this advisory on the change from the Pierce Atwood law firm’s website: “Through proper estate tax planning, married couples essentially will be able to shield $4 million of assets from Maine estate taxation, and other techniques may also be used to further reduce the tax burden.” No advice was available on where the disabled and elderly who would lose their rooms at private, nonmedical institutions could live.
A progressive group has urged the Legislature to raise taxes to cover the shortfall, arguing Maine’s wealthiest 1 percent pays an effective rate in state and local taxes that is 12 percent lower than others pay. Restoring tax rates to their 2010 levels for those earning more than $200,000 could generate more than $70 million a year, according to the progressive Maine Center for Economic Policy.
MaineCare eligibility was expanded during the boom times in the late 1990s, an impulse that seemed right at the time. The gap that some of that expanded access and increased need due to the recession caused must be closed now. But the governor may have won more support for his proposed cuts if he also signaled interest in programs that promote better health, which would save funds in the long term, or a willingness to raise the tobacco tax or add another tax that targeted unhealthy food or beverages.
Cutting access to federal Medicaid programs means less money will come to Maine and some jobs will be killed here, further stalling economic recovery. Some of the proposed changes may not be legal. And the avoided costs will be borne by hospitals, towns and others.
The governor’s press secretary called the DHHS budget gap a “financial crisis.” If it is indeed that, broader thinking is needed.
Gov. John McKernan raised the sales tax by 1 percent when his government faced a financial crisis. Such a broad-based tax hike should be avoided. But this moment calls for field dressing the wounds, not amputation. Later, when the economy improves, the governor will get his chance to reconfigure the many assistance programs for which he uses the generic term “welfare.” That is the moment fiscal conservatives must assert their views.
How about telling these pillars of the community to stop breeding.
Finally! Someone who can see clearly. There’s just no darn way the people of Maine can continue to afford to pay for even one more LePage.
We had two generations of Pingree and where did that get us????
Exactly. LePage is at least getting people talking (or yelling), instead of more: “We can’t cut PA.” “How will we pay for it?” ” I dunno, but we can’t cut it.”
True! You see what happens when conception occurs at low tide in the gene pool?
Exactly how many are we feeding over there at the Blaine House?
What a mean thing to say.
Elderly people are not our burden. Many are people who worked all their lives and never asked for a handout, but may not have fortunate enough to earn a high salary and are now facing the realities of old age of medical cost and have earned assistance.
Cutting essential benefits to reward a few is heartless and Maine is better than that.
“Cutting the tax rate is an important step toward rebuilding Maine’s image as a friendly place to do business. But if those cuts come too soon or are so steep as to push 65,000 people off health insurance, they should be reconsidered.” – Says it all.
The problem is a systemic, and growing sense of entitlement. The problem is the disintergration of familes and a snse of responsibility to care for one’s own. The problem is spending other people’s money without restraint.
When have we gone from a state of entitlement and redistribution of wealth?
NOW, doh…..
Reduction of top tax bracket from 92% to 70% then to 50% then to 39.6% then to 35%. Redistribution of wealth, dividing America for 50 years now. It’s time the middle class pushes back!!!!!
Get off the “92% to 70% then to 50% then to 39.6%”. You are comparing apples to oranges. The rates you keep quoting were from the old graduated system. In that system rates were different as each level of your income increased thus everyone paid the exact same amount on each level of their income::
The first level of income: 1-10,000 – 5%
The 2nd level of income 10,000 to 20,000 – 6%
The 3rd level of income from 20-50,000 – 10%
The 4th level of income 50,000 – 100,000 12%, etc
Anyone paying income taxes in the graduated days remebers that the tax tables were 15 to twenty pages long in order to accommodate the gradual increases for each change in income.
There was never a 92% rate across the board: the millionaire merely paid 92% on the graduate amount for example the amount 900,000 to 1,000,000. (these figures are only meant to explain of how it worked). The change to today’s system meant that a millionaire now pays the same rate across his entire income, not just on the difference between gradual change. The change was made to make the system simpler, not to give tax breaks. In fact, it was revenue neutral and design to be.
You are partially correct. Millionaires today pay 0% on the first $6,000, 10% on $6001 to $24,000, etc until you get to $250,000. The income over $250,000 is taxed at the 36% tax rate but that is only for earned income.
Unearned income such as Dividends, Long-term capital gains (on investmetns of more than a year) and certain types of interest get taxed on a progressive tax rate that caps out at 15%, if it is taxed at all. That is why the super rich like Romney can pay only 13.4% in taxes. The majority of their wealth is unearned income.
That is where the real class warfare is, the fact that the rich try to hide by paying silver tongued Op-Ed writers to make it sound like they are not engaging in class warfare.
You are correct as to unearned income. However, the problem we face when taxing this income is to do so without discouraging its use as an income generator. Remember the monies used to generate unearned income are monies that have already been taxed when first earned. They are in fact savings. Economically speaking, countries with the greatest savings per capita have the strongest economies…Germany and the Scandinavian countries, for example. The reason is twofold: first, savings reduces the amount of personal debt and secondly it provides investment dollars for the economy. Thus we should as a society want to encourage savings and investment…we want the savings placed in Banks, equities and/or bonds because those investments lead to new infrastructure, start-up companies and expanded companies through loans and capital. The problem for the person with the savings is risk…..in effect, he must answer the question: is the bird (his savings) in the hand better than the 2 birds in the bush (his investment return)? To answer his question he must judge the risk of his investment. If he puts it in a bank it may be safe and easily accessible but the income is so low after taxes if he is in the 36% rate, he will probably look elsewhere. He could do nothing and just keep the savings in cash (as thousands of corporations of all sizes are currently doing). Or he could invest it in equities or bonds but by doing so he is risking his principle…he could lose some or all of his savings. Now compare that investment risk to the risk facing an income earner. There is no risk to his income…as long as he works he gets paid…and hour of work, and he gets an hour of pay. Historically, our government has recognized the difference in risk associated with unearned income versus earned income and it has tempered that risk by taxing it at a lower rate than earned income. In short, the government has wanted to encourage a person to invest his savings. The tax rate can surely discourage an investor from risking his savings because higher rates lead to less leverage against possible losses.
Lets discuss Germany’s Tax since you brought it up as a country that has one of the strongest economies.
“The highest tax rate is 45% for taxable income of individuals that exceeds EUR 250,000 (EUR 500,000 for married couples )…. Income tax is payable on assessable income less allowable deductions. Assessable income includes business income, income from agriculture and forestry, income from self-employment, income from employment, certain capital gains, capital investment income, and rental and royalty income. Allowable deductions include personal allowances, deductions for business/professional expenses and contributions to specified (insurance) bodies.”
http://www.taxrates.cc/html/germany-tax-rates.html
So an economy as vibrant and strong as the German economy taxes “…certain capital gains, capital investmetn income…” at the same rate as earned income. Why does that work for Germany but would not work for the US?
I am glad you brought up the tax rates in Germany because that nation encourages capital investment in an entirely different manner than the US. It is this difference in part that results in a higher personal income tax rate. Germany encourages corporate investment by maintaining low corporate income tax rates that results in higher levels of corporate re-investment versus the US method of encouraging individuals to invest personal savings in the capital markets. While the US taxes corporate profits at a rate of 30 to 35%, Germany and the Scandinavian countries tax corporate profits at around 15%. The intent of both countries is to encourage capital investment but they simply do so differently. I support the US method of higher corporate taxes and lower capital gains rates because I believe investment gains at a consumer level will result in more investment in small start-up companies while low corporate rates merely encourages German corporations to re-invest their profits in themselves.
Also realize that to accurately compare US personal income tax rates with those in Germany you must include in the US rates what we pay in federal payroll taxes…15% for SS (individual and employer shares) as well as 10% for Medicare. With these included the German rates (which do include these services) are not significantly higher than the US rates. And even making this adjustment we leave out state income taxes which do not exist in Germany…the German states must get by on excise, inheritance and sales taxes.
German corporate taxes are 15.5% on the Federal level and from 7% to 17.5% on the state level on worldwide corporate profits. Capital gains and dividend income for individuals are taxed at a flat rate of 25% at the Federal level and corporations pay capital gains taxes at the same rate as they do profits on eligible gains.
The local states have a Real Estate Transfer tax of either 3.5% or 4.5% depending on the state. Members of the Roman Catholic, German Protestant, Lutheran and Jewish churches also have to pay church tax. The tax rate amounts to about 8% or 9% of the annual income tax liability and varies according to the district of residence with that tax being deductable on income taxes.
Individuals pay up to 45% income tax but also pay half of their Pension Tax (19.5%), Unemployment tax (6.5%), Health Insurance (13 – 15%) and Care Insurance (1.7%) with corporations paying the other half.
Both individuals and corporations pay a 19% VAT on most goods and services.
The German Republic is a Federal Government which means 95% of taxes are collected at the Federal level and redistrbuted to the state and local levels. With that type of government, the Federal governmenthas more control at the local level than does in the US.
Just notice that you believe that individual and corporate SS taxes are 15% and Medicare taxes are 10% split betweeen individual and employer. You are incorrect, the current SS taxes are 8.4%, the individual and corporations pay 4.2% each, and medicare is 2.9% with the individual and corporations paying 1.45% each. Even if the SS tax holiday is not extended then the SS tax rate is still only 11.3% with the individuals and corporations paying half each.
The Total SSN and Medicare tax rate is currently 11.3% and if the tax holiday is not extended it is 15.3%. Where as the Germans pay 19.5% Pension Insurance, Unemployment Insurance 6.5%, Health Insurance 13 – 15% and Care Insurance 1.7% split equally between the individual and corporation.
In Maine, corporations pay Unemployment Taxes of between 4 – 9% on the first $12,000 dollars and employee earns with individuals not paying any. In Germany Unemployment Insurances is paid at 6.5% of income split equally by individuals and corporations.
Thomas you are ill informed. The graduated nature of taxation works exactly the same NOW.
Believe what you wish
For someone that has TAX as part of their moniker you really know very little about them.
I GUARANTY you I know more about tax laws than you.
Can I have the tax loopholes that went with those tax brackets? You know like clothes you wear to work. Interest on my personal credit card. Not to mention all those tax shelters that no longer exist? You do know that no one was ever in that 92% bracket don’t you?
You hypothesis is based on a myth.
There were people making $400,000 in the 50s and their income was subject to the 91% bracket so why make such a foolish statement. Your education is a myth.
You are looking at raw numbers only. Your mistake is that no one actually payed that marginal rate. That rate can be on the books all you like if a taxpayer sets up a legal shelter income was excluded from being taxed. Everyone had these tax breaks available to them. You need to look at effective tax rates. Not marginal rates.
You are still operating under a myth with a hypothesis that never really existed.
I don’t agree. There were very few loopholes in the 50s. And with a 91% rate, many rich people expanded their business, bought new equipment, hired more workers by just paying the extra 9% rather than send it to uncle sam. Sure was a good incentive to expand business and maybe should be tried again today…without today’s special interest special favor loopholes.
I don’t care if you agree or not. Chances are good you did not live through the period and are only looking at one side of the story. You are incorrect about the loopholes. They were everywhere for the common person as well as business. People made large incomes as you note but paid less tax on that income than you might think.
The easiest “loophole” that an individual had was that you could deduct interest you paid as an expense on your personal income taxes. There were many many other such deductions and exemptions and tax shelters that were tax exempt that are taxable now.
The Congress traded loopholes and deductions for reductions in marginal rates. That was the way the Current tax structure came about.
I would love the old way of doing things. I would pay next to zero tax.
You’re a fool if you believe that the 91% tax rate for people making over $400,000 in 1959 is the equivalent to today’s top tax rate of only 35%. The rich still have plenty of loopholes today and are paying much less now. 91% – 35% = 56% that’s how much the top tax rate has gone down in 50 years. The rich have rigged the tax code to favor them and the corrupt GOP fights to preserve their great tax deals and subsidies, and the middle class has to pay the slack. GOP cheerleaders like you do their dirty work and spread misinformation to confuse the masses. It’s really quite sad.
Respectfully, disagree.
Problem is perception. Lazy people, crooks, people gaming the system.
Look around at your neighbors. You probably know them. Not all. Most. For the level of fraud and outright evil this administration is insisting on tackling, does it correspond to what you know of your neighbors.
No. Of course not.
Yes, it does.
Far too many of my neighbors are lazy, feel entitled, are druggies, and are living off the system.
Then you should move.
Good luck.
They are everywhere so moving will not help. Progressives just have rose colored glasses on and refuse to see them.
I’m an optimistic realist.
I don’t watch a lot of cable TV, and I don’t believe in ghosts, bigfoot, that all fishermen are multi-millionaires, or that I can eat some of the crap some show and expect to live a long, healthy life. And I don’t watch a lot of the news on cable because it’s opinion, fear-mongering crap designed to get your blood up and not to get you think, most times.
I don’t recall saying what my politics were.
I didn’t say anything about what your politics in particular are either.
But if the shoe fits, wear it
People tend to live where they are among people most like themselves.
Maybe that is why you know so little about business and the real world.
My neighbors were a family with two severely retarded children both of which stayed in the home and were cared for by their mother. The husband died. State support kept the family intact and saved the state the cost of institutionalization for the two children. Then the mother died. Relatives took in the children again with state support, which again saved the cost of expensive institutional care. It is short sighted,mean spirited and dishonest to view aid as “your” money being wasted on the greedy and entitled. Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.
Here you go again with the same slant. I personally know of people on Maine Care who brag about it and go on cruises every year.Why does it cost so much to house people at AMHI? Why are we supporting drug use? Where is the fraud investigation? The truly needy will not be harmed by snapping to on the abuses. Get with it. Support our Governor. Hey folks, these jokesters only want to raise taxes to make ends meet.
BTW, why does the BDN highlight points and underline when the BDN does not want posters doing it?
Don’t know about cruises but I can see the results of drug use. We are building an infrastructure that encourages drug use and encourages other crime.
That’s right. The GOP plan to cut lifelines will lead to desperate people committing more crimes like robberies, theft and home invasions. I just hope they can figure out which homes were people cutting their lifelines and those who believe that such cuts are not the answer.
In case you haven’t figured it out crime is up since we invited the methadone clinics to Bangor. Ask a policeman, better yet ask the police chief. As for a home invasion if they come to my home they have made a mistake.
Maybe Penobscot County should emulate Washington County. Those who are on Methadone Treatment that are arrested for crimes know that when they go to Washington County Jail, their methadone is cut off. Ask anyone who has gone through withdrawal from methadone how it feels.
Tough poop. This has to stop sometime.
So, home invasions and harm are ok if they happen to conservatives. That speaks volumes.
Never said it was OK, but when the home invasions from desperate people start, I just hope they don’t go to the homes of the ones who have tried to get the GOP and Governor to give a care, and maybe if they do go to GOP homes, maybe just maybe, you guys might realize the harm you are causing, not to mention the extra strain on law enforcement, the courts, probation, the jails.
Yeah, that’s what I thought you said…
wait, are you asking the govnah where the fraud investigation is, because it seems to me he has choosen to throw people in bulk off Maine Care instead of going after the cheats.
If you know someone who is on Maine Care and goes on cruises every year, turn them in.
Not my job. We are a state of laws which have to be protected by state authorities. Hopefully Lepage will put them in action.
Not your job. I’ll buy that. But as a tax payer that seems to want things fixed, don’t you think it would help the people you seem to be critical of to do their job more thorughly?
Highlight points? Do you mean the links to stories we include in the editorial? Those links are there so readers can see the context of the assertions we make by going to the related news stories.
Which you wrote, being your opinions.
The question that needs to be asked is, “Would LePage’s tax cuts have passed if he had submitted a budget that included the $220 million he now claims is a shortfall from the DHHS budget? ” The answer has to be a big fat NO. The Maine Constitution requires a balanced budget. There is no way he could have gotten his much crowed about $150 million in tax cuts and balanced the budget if he had been truthful. Paul Richard LePage has shown us over and over again that he will not let things that most Mainers hold important like honesty and the truth get in his way.
He had Mayhew skew the numbers to look like a balanced budget last year. Now she has been told to bring out the real numbers to encourage the cuts.
On the idea that cutting state taxes creates jobs:
Maine has a progressive individual income tax and corporate income tax.
Maine’s current unemployment rate is 7%, much better than the national rate.
Nevada has no individual income tax and no corporate income tax.
Nevada’s unemployment rate is 12.6%, the worst in the nation.
http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
New Hampshire, with no income tax is at a rate of 5.1% unemployment
South Dakota, with a low income tax rate between 2 and 5% is at an unemployment rate of 3.3%
I believe there are some external factors working in Nevada that you are missing in your analysis and thus brought you to an errant conclusion.
Nonetheless, it’s a nice attempt at providing half the story to develop a convenient narrative to fit your agenda.
The point is.taxes, up or down, do not create jobs. Taxes are raised to make our state and communities work, including helping those among us who need our help in a systematic way.
Taxes are necessary to a healthy caring, civilized, Christian society.
Are you saying that you enjoy being taxed like no other State?
Not at all. However, I will give you credit for trying to do as you usually do twist someone’s words to fit your flawed ideology. My question, which you failed to answer was would LePage’s tax cuts had passed had he submitted an honest DHHS budget to the legislature? I will await your answer.
It’s not a question and you are much more skilled at twisting facts than I. He did submit an honest budget and it did get passed. And what you always forget to say is the legislature passed the budget, LePage did not just write it and sign it into law. So you, who are so interested in factual representations, ought to be taking your own advice. You lie and twist facts to fit into your hate campaign of LePage and while you can do whatever you want, most of us see right through it except for your 40 or so disciples.
If as you claim he submitted an honest budget then why is it $220 million short?
Awesome solution; raise taxes. Real original. What did anybody ever do before the government took care of everything?…. Oh yeah, they worked, and they relied on family & church for welfare when needed at minimum levels. But why bother trying today when the bleeding heart liberals are willing to give so much, and only at the cost of your ever-lasting vote. Only to be slaves to a socialist system of nanny-state mediocrity and unrealizable dreams.
You guys are SO SO brainwashed. The fraud problem is VERY VERY low!
In the fall if 2010, Libby Mitchell said there was no welfare fraud in Maine. Do you agree with her assessment?
Can’t you read? I said very very low, not non-existant.
And by your own words you admit that there is fraud. Lets get rid of it!! Admitting that there is a problem is the first step toward dealing with it. At least you are making progress.
Problem is, that, with liberals, it’s tends to be more than a twelve step process.
I, too, thought they were brainwashed, TCFTR…but they’ve convinced me that something nonexistent can’t be washed. Empty heads, one and all.
He was not even talking about fraud. He was talking about entitlements. Abuse made legal by liberals.
There is fraud out there. But if you investigate from the bottom up you won’t make a dent in the costs. We need to start at the top and hold the super wealthy accountable for their fraudulant practices.
There are those here and in every other state who are collecting disablilty that are fully capable, and do work (under the table). That do live with someone who is making good money and they use the welfare money to buy toys and party on. Many people know who they are but are afraid to turn them in. If they are turned in, does the state have enough people to investigate and document. If they investigate and document, what are the chances of recouping the money? Or will it cost us more money to house them in prison and find foster parents for their children?
You can’t paint everyone with the same brush. For everyone you see ripping off the system, there are probably 6 who desperately need it. That is why we need to start at the top of the food chain (the very wealthy) who are gaming the system through their wealth and ability to buy the politicians who are writing the tax codes. The wealthy, to my knowledge aren’t any where near desperation.
What did people do? They died of illnesses that could have been treated if they had access to health care.
Better get used to it because that is the system Obamacare is bringing to the US.
What this country needs is single-payer universal health insurance. President Obama’s plan is one small step in the right direction.
How can anyone regard America as a great country when close to 50,000,000 Americans have no health insurance, and many thousands who do have insurance go into bankruptcy when they discover that their for-profit insurance corporation doesn’t cover a catastropic illness or injury?
The 50,000,000 number is false.
I’m wondering what your explanation will be when you find out that your
single-payer universal health rations your care and doesn’t cover the
treatments you want for your catastrophic illness or injury?
Gosh, you’re right about the number of uninsured Americans–according to CBS news, it’s closer to 59 million. Higher than I’d thought! http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/10/health/main7040408.shtml
“More than 59 million Americans had no health insurance for at least part of 2010, an increase of 4 million from the previous year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported Tuesday. While the worsening economic conditions did have a direct impact on the number of Americans with coverage, the situation also meant that a far greater number of Americans are forgoing needed medical care because of costs. “Both adults and kids lost private coverage over the past decade,” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the C.D.C., said at a news conference, according to the Reuters news agency.”
Right now, if you have a policy with a for-profit commercial insurer, what is covered or not depends on the whim of the corporation. Its ONLY goal is profit.
According to CNN, medical costs prompt about 60% of American bankruptcies–http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-05/health/bankruptcy.medical.bills_1_medical-bills-bankruptcies-health-insurance?_s=PM:HEALTH
“This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills. Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.”
Inflating the number does nothing for your credibility.
At least 10 million of your 56 million are not American citizens. Probably even more considering how many illegals are not counted.
At least 14 million are eligible for either Medicaid or SCHIP and simply have chosen not to apply.
Another large group, estimated to be between 10 and 20 million with no data how many overlap other categories, are only without insurance for part of the year. Sometimes as little as a month. Often because they are between jobs.
9 million earn more than $75,000 a year and can certainly afford health insurance if they wanted it.
18 million are under the age of 34 and simply choose not to buy insurance because they are young, healthy, foolish, and irresponsible.
The estimated number of American citizens without health insurance because they cannot afford it and do not qualify for some form of government assistance is estimated to be closer to 12 million.
So, you have insurance and the rest of the nation can just tough it out if they get sick and that’s OK with you. Great attitude. I don’t think “I”ve got mine Jack” is the attitude that made this country great.
That’s what I did when I was sick and didn’t have insurance. Tough it out. Never thought I had a right to stick my hand in another persons pocket and steal what was theirs.
thank the government! i bet you think the only reason any of us are alive today is because of our government.
I don’t recall ever stepping over a body in the street. Not once.
There was time when the government stayed out of my healthcare to the point I could take care of me and my family. Now when I take care of my family needs it is at the expense of me forgoing needed medical screening for my self. I lay the difference to to government involvement in my healthcare starting in 1995.
I believe the discussion was about the era before Medicare and Medicaid. Not sure how old you are, but you were almost surely not around before Medicare.
Before there was any sort of government help, people died quietly at home, not in the streets (usually). If you’re only willing to admit there’s a problem when you see people literally dying in the streets… Anyhow, they died of illnesses that were either preventable or curable, if they’d had access to healthcare.
Right now, most people have insurance with for-profit corporations, which means that many of your premium dollars are siphoned off to swell the CEO’s multi-million dollar salary, and the emphasis is on denying you or your family thecare they contracted to provide.
Universal single-payer health insurance would mean you would be able to have preventive health care such as screenings, and your family would also be able to have health care. Not either-them-or-me.
Sorry. I was able to before. Folks like you have made certain I cannot now and NO I don’t trust that any government where my healthcare is a line item in the budget can make decisions for me better than I can.
Right now, your health care (or that of your family, if you lack insurance for yourself) is a line item in the budget of an insurance corporation. Its only motive is increasing profits by 1) enrolling only the healthiest possible poeple, 2) dropping them whenever possible when they become ill, and 3) denying coverage for things it contracted to cover–aware that a person who is ill is not in a strong position to fight.
But the rules are set by Augusta. They are the reason we have the highest insurance rates in the country.
I knwo how insurance is constructed. I watched the State of Maine de-construct mine.
I’m sorry your insurance got messed up; I don’t know the details, and that’s fine–it’s a private matter. Everyone should have health insurance.
But in terms of Maine having the highest insurance rate in the country, I don’t believe that is accurate. According to http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/12/7-best-and-worst-states-for-individual-health-insurance/ Maine is not the highest–it’s not in the top 7 for cost.
I’ve lived in India. When the rich refuse to pay their fair share and create desperate poverty you do step over bodies dying in the street.
And I have walked in the trash heaps of Cambodia where I’ve seen the results of Socialism up close and personal.
Yep, it was a veritable Eden back in them glorious days of yore. Most people didn’t live to 50 due to infant mortality, epidemics, lack of care from accidents, no anti-biotics, etc.. Geeze, I wouldn’t have lived to my age, due to my family’s socio-economic level. I wouldn’t have gotten my apendics out until it burst when I was 15, my brother would have died of pneumonia, damned modern medicine!
This article is an outrageous lie and says nothing about the FACT that Maine is the 6th HIGHEST TAXED STATE IN THE COUNTRY. Clearly, revenue is NOT THE PROBLEM! Repeat, REVENUE IS NOT THE PROBLEM and I do not want to pay one dime more in taxes. NO MORE TAXES!! Of course, many LIBERALS BELIEVE Maine should be the HIGHEST TAXED STATE and won’t be happy until Maine is the #1 highest taxed state in the country. The liberals will call this PROGRESS. Of course, we will have driven every business out of the state and the private sector will have been wiped out dry, but the liberals will also view this as progress and their solution will be to TAX MORE and increase the welfare enrollments even more than they are now. Alas, the Democratic Liberal Utopian society of Cain/Martin/Rotundo will have been formed in Maine.
I say stop the madness NOW! Medicaid expenditures rose by 1 billion dollars (78%) since 2002 because of eased enrollment and increases in entitlement. Translation, Medicaid is now 35% above the national average and 1 out of 4 people in Maine are on the cadillac Medicaid program. Surely, 1 out of 4 Mainers are clearly not disabled, let’s call a spade a spade. Can Maine afford another 78% increase in the next 10 years? Of course NOT! Are we prepared to layoff 3,400 teachers to pay for the DHHS cyclical budget shortfall of 220 million dollars? What future are we preparing for our kids if we allow Martin and Rotundo to cut the education budget only to temporarily fund the Medicaid MONSTER that grows 78% every 10 years? This is crazy. Have the Democratic leaders lost their minds? There is only one solution and it is to implement structural reforms. Only this will prevent this growing welfare beast from killing out state.
A vote of support to Governor LePage is a vote for a brighter Maine future. I don’t care what party you belong to, enough is enough. I encourage the Appropriations Committee to ACT NOW and support the Governor’s very reasonable proposals. Do it for our kids.
I totally agree. The premise of this article is that we are somehow undertaxed and DHHS is spending at just the right level. Wrong! Maine taxes are too high even with the cuts and we need to reign in spending and reduce entitlements NOW. Go Governor Lepage! The fact that so many liberals are squawking means you are on the right track.
If the Governor wasn’t catering to the rich, we’d have progressive income taxes instead of a system that gives millionaires the same tax rates as someone making $19500. Taxes are high for the middle class in Maine but if we had a progressive system, taxes would be higher for millionaires and would be lowered for most everyone else. Currently, the middle class is paying higher taxes so that millionaires can pay lower taxes!
Stop playing class warfare. These programs need to be cut they are no longer sustainable. It is always the reason why we have huge shortfalls. It is time to put some of these folks to work that should be working. We can’t have women keep getting pregnant so they can keep collecting even more in benefits. We need to get the deadbeat dads who are lazy who don’t want to work and are abusing these programs we should be putting in laws that makes them head to the career center. It’s time to cut spending and the amount of folks on Welfare because it is the right thing to do and it is good for our economy.
Welfare is caped at less that$490 ($483 is the actual number if memory serves me right) per month in Maine regardless of how many children are in the family. That cap also happens to be the lowest in the Northeast.
We’ve already experienced 50 years of class warfare/redistributing the wealth by the rich:
1) top income tax rate reduced from 91% to 70% to 50% to 39.6% to 35%
2) a special capital gains rate of 15% was put in to the tax code for mostly the rich and no social security taxes are charged on such income
3) Social security tax rates for the rich are much less than for most everyone else because there is a cap on the income subject to the tax
4) we have seen a dramatic shift in wealth to the richest few
5) the rich now freely can control Congress through legal bribes and continue to get special tax loopholes, subsidies and less regulations in order to get even more wealth
NOW THAT’S CLASS WARFARE THAT HAS DIVIDED OUR NATION!
sounds more like a government out of control, time you started to consider if politicians are the problem and not the rich. think about it.
Yes corrupt politicians are the problem but they are doing what they are doing because RICH special interests are bribing them with campaign contributions and the worse ones are GOP Congressmen.
Corporations, owned and run by very, very wealthy individuals, have been steadily reducing middle and lower class jobs, wages, pensions, health care contributions. Which class is committing warfare against whom?
Are you proposing we take someone on welfare and put them in
charge of our corporations?
I actually wish you could be put in charge of a corporation for a while.
You would get a needed education in the real world of business and government
very quickly and find out your simplistic view of business and what those who
run them actually do is wrong.
Either that or you would put them into bankruptcy.
Quick note – Wall Street corporations have given Mr. Obama more in campaign contributions than all the Repub candidates combined so far in this election cycle; the class warfare game is a major smokescreen so voters don’t look at what is really going on. Also – I’m middle class and my wages, pensions, and healthcare contributions are doing quite well thank you. One should remember all politicians are in the game for power – try to tell me any of them are in politics for altruistic reasons and your naivete will be obvious.
you are lying about the amount of campaign contributions from Wall Street. Do you always repeat Fox “news” lies without checking on their veracity.
Your rhetoric sounds good to the ignorant masses but economically it just doesn’t work.
There are very few millionaires in Maine. Go ahead, DOUBLE their tax rate to 16%. I’m sure that sounds good to you.
First of all many of them would simply leave the state and total revenue would actually go down. This was tried in other states and that is exactly what happened.
Second, even if they did not leave the actual revenue raised would not begin to cover the shortfall because there are so few of them. In the end the middle class, because of it’s much larger numbers, will always pay the majority of taxes.
But in the same breath, the millionaires are millionaires for a reason… I bet they didn’t go out to eat much, buy unnecessary items etc. And I also bet they worked very hard to get the money they have earned… Why should they pay more than everyone else?? Because they have worked harder and made better decisions than others did?? I do believe it should be a straight tax… Everyone pays the same rate… And I do not think all welfare should be cut but I think many situations should be looked into and cut those that abuse it and don’t use it for the purpose of bettering themselves so they can eventually support themselves… People trading their ebt cards should be taken off… They were intended to feed their children and themselves and clearly they don’t need what they are receiving if they are selling them… Etc and so forth…
Sarah you just don’t understand why we have a progressive tax. Do some research regarding its origin. Don’t fall for GOP propaganda that everyone should pay the same tax because you’ll pay more and the ones who can most afford it and have the most disposable income will pay less.
When I was job searching I had to fill out a paper stating whether or not I had received any welfare in the past year… Did you know it was because if I had I would have gotten tax breaks?? I think its crazy!! We are dirt poor and refuse to take help… We will work harder to support ourselves… And I will do more research but… I happen to know someone who would fall into the category and let me tell you, the hardest workers I have ever seen!! They as well won’t buy any extras and they shop on the clearance rack… Well I should characterize it as rich should pay at least the same as we pay… I agree politicians are the issue. Making laws that best suit themselves… Corrupt corrupt corrupt!! We need to start fresh!
According to the 2012 Maine tax tables, a taxable income of $540,700, filing jointly, incurs a tax of $44,586 which is about 8.2%. A taxable income of $40,700, filing jointly, incurs $2086, 5.1%, and a taxable income of $20,350, again filing jointly, has a tax of $661, 3.2%. Our income tax is mildly progressive.
But think about this. Health insurance is quite important. A standard family policy is about the same for everyone. In Maine it must be nearly $10,000 per year. If the family with a taxable income of $20,350 bought insurance, it would cost them 49% of their taxable income. The family making $40,700 would be paying nearly 25% of its income for insurance, but the $540,700 family would only be paying about 2% for insurance.
Life’s necessities, food, shelter, health, are not proportional.
There was simply NO NEED to cut income taxes for millionaires and give millionaire estates an estate tax cut. Enough is enough! Republicans can’t you show you care just a little bit about your neighbors and our communities. Can’t you see how lame the GOP special interest agenda of ONLY caring about the rich is?
$19,500 is not rich for a single earner and $39,000 is not rich for a couple filing jointly. Apparently the liberals view anyone who makes any money as rich and they want it all back in taxes. No wonder the State of Maine has been turned into a welfare state, the liberals had free reign for 40 years.
Can’t you read? MILLIONAIRES didn’t deserve nor needed the tax cuts. I said nothing about people making less than that. WHY do you think it’s OK for a millionaire to pay the same income tax rate as someone making $19500?
I see, you want them to move to Florida. Now that will really help increase Maine’s tax base, won’ t it?
Why should millionaires pay at the same income tax rate as someone making $19,500? If a few dollars in taxes makes them fly to Florida so be it. I don’t want to give a tax bribe or subsidize millionaires to stay here, do you?
Why should a millionaire pay a higher tax rate than everyone else?
I guess you would prefer to drive them away. Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I have another idea. Democrats should pay a higher tax rate than everyone else.
“Democrats should pay a higher tax rate than everyone else. ”
Indeed, and we should make it mandatory that they provide 5% of their income in charitable donations. The dems are the cheapest, most greedy folks around when it comes to actually offering a helping hand to someone in need…it’s pathetic!
Yes that’s why the GOP is stomping on the poor and the elderly….because they are the ones that care about their fellow man. What a joke! Thank GOD, the Dems give a care about the poor and the elderly because the GOP certainly doesn’t.
Here’s a better one, how about if millionaires pay a nickel more in taxes on only the dollars they make above $1 million….just like they did 11 years ago when the GOP divided America and redistributed wealth to the rich by giving the rich more tax cuts!
It’s a progressive tax system silly. The more you earn, the more you pay in taxes, those who are best off, pay more. It’s called COMMON SENSE.
With a flat tax of 15% I would pay $1,500 on my $10,000 income. A millionaire paying that same 15% would pay $150,000.
Looks to me like the millionaire will pay far more than me. The more you earn, the more you pay. That is real COMMON SENSE.
Your progressive tax system should be renamed the “Punish Anyone Who Does Well” tax system. Or maybe the “Kill The Jobs” tax system. How about the “Suck The Life Out Of The Economy” tax system.
With a flat tax of 15% I would pay $1,500 on my $10,000 income. A millionaire would pay $150,000 on his 1 million income.
Lets see. The more you earn, the more you pay in taxes. Sounds like that millionaire is paying a lot more than me. Now that is real COMMON SENSE!
Your progressive tax system should be renamed the “Punish Anyone Who Does Well” tax. Or maybe the “Kill The Jobs” tax. Or even better, the “S*ck The Life Out Of The Economy” tax.
Your tax system – screw the middle class. Your system – cater to the rich. You really need to do some research on the reasons we have a progressive tax. Back then the rich cared about their country and fellow man, now they are too greedy to think about anybody but themselves.
You sound like the greedy one to me. Wanting to confiscate other peoples earnings.
do the research, you’ll definitely learn something!
Probably because he’s living in his Mother’s basement.
Yes all liberals live in their mother’s basement and all liberals are on welfare living off taxes that only republicans pay. Why are GOP cheerleaders such fools to make such comments? Do you all have a superiority complex? Turkey I bet I’m much more wealthy than you, but the difference is I care about my fellow man.
According to our gov, he couldn’t find any rich people, so we don’t need to worry about them fleeing to Florida.But a quick google will show that Maine certainly has its share, about 22,000 of them.
Reading comprehension is something that’s beyond their abilities. Repeating the party line and not using brain cells is far easier, which explains how LePew got in there in the first place.
Like leading lambs to the slaughter.
Why mislead?.In 20 of the past 40 years, Maine has been run by a Republican or Republican leaning Governor.
Your statement is false. McKernan was the only Republican Governor in the last 40 years, but he was a liberal, so you can claim him in your corner.
McKernan was and is still a Republican and is married to Queen Olympia. King and Longley were conservatives.
King a conservative, give me a break! I suppose you think Karl Marx was also a conservative.
King and Longley conservatives?
Well that pretty much negates any credibility you have….yet another product of the public school system that was never instructed how to critically think
While Angus sure acted as a conservative most of the time, there is no question that Longley was definitely a conservative. He had headed up the Maine Management and Survey Commission and worked to cut gov’t costs and make gov’t more efficient. He helped streamline the University system. His son ran for Governor as a Republican.
King a conservative? Wow – now I really know you are clueless…
King a conservative, dude put the bong down
Yes, but a Democratic legislature.
They’ll see how lame it is, TCFTR, when it comes back and bites them in the butt LePew likes to mention so often. Meanwhile, you Tea Partiers keep on supporting the hero that’s already shown you over and over again that he wants to grind the little guy (that’s YOU) into the ground.
Where I come from, that’s called dumb,just plain dumb.
What do you call a Tea Partier? Is it people who want to live within our means and not spend money we do not have? Is it people who do not want to overburden our kids with debt that they will be held hostage to for the rest of their lives? Is that it? It sound to me like they’re not only Tea Partiers, they’ve also got a lot of COMMON SENSE!
In a word? Stupid.
Is living within our means stupid or is living beyond our means stupid?
Is giving away money (tax breaks) when you know you’re going to need it “living within your means” or “stupid”. In my house it would be considered a serious lack of common sense.
The government can’t give anything without first taking it from someone else. How can a tax break be giving money away? The truth is a tax break does not give money away, it simply takes less away. Big difference!
It is thinking like yours that got us into this mess in the first place. You can’t give away something that isn’t yours. You can STOP TAKING it though…big difference.
Thank you DonSalamanca, great comment
So you advocate stopping all taxation except for a really big military?? Welcome to a stone age mentality where only those able to terrorize the rest int submission lived in security and comfort.
No it’s thinking like yours and the GOP lackies that got us into this mess. If I give away my income, then can’t pay my bills, I’d be a fool. The Maine GOP and LePlague are fools.
We all should live within our means, but everything I’ve seen, heard and read, as you state that concerns the tea party is about – what THEY want, this country has many less fortunate than we and the tea party looks the other way when others need a leg up. The concept of the “tea party” is a great idea, unfortunately it was hi-jacked by the neo-cons and other extreme ideas.
A group of little girls pretending to drink tea and have snacks. Sometime use real juice and toast and or crackers. Also another definition a group right wing wacko Sarah Palin Wannabeees who ate to much Limbaugh fodder
what free drugs from Maine Care are you on?
SO we are dumb when we complain about spending more money on programs that aren’t working that are causing this state to have huge budget shortfalls every year. We are dumb when we don’t want to borrow money that is supposed to be for transportation projects when instead it is diverted to expanding DHHS AND WELFARE. The only dumb people I see is Liberals who continue to refuse Maine has major problems that we have all kinds of money to burn on more government social programs that are failing. They feel their policies and view are the only way to go when in fact it has caused our schools to have 75% of them fail that are crumbling. Our infrastructure is awful because of their agenda. Our economy is dead last because of their awful economic policies, job killing regulations. So to say we are dumb is ignorant when Democrats are the ones for the last 40 years refusing to see the problems they have created.
Here’s a link to an imortant study you’ll want to read:
http://news.yahoo.com/low-iq-conservative-beliefs-linked-prejudice-180403506.html
Low IQ & Liberal Beliefs Linked To Poor Research?
http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=5118
All of the red states are at the bottom of educational stats in this country. The dumber you are, the more likely you will be a dumb GOP follower. Want more proof, the GOP is trying to disenfranchise College students’ voting rights. Why, because smart college kids vote for Dems. As for research skills, you can’t get any lamer than all the false, misleading and outright lies coming from GOP cult followers who just repeat what Fox “news” tells them without ever checking or caring to see if it’s true.
Just as I suspected, the article is over your head. Fortunately for you, you’re too thick to be embarrassed.
http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=5118
Anyone dumb enough to follow and support the failed policies of the GOP who put the economy in the toilet, who regularly repeats the dishonest GOP rhetoric, who voted for Bush twice, certainly shouldn’t be taking pot shots saying someone else is embarrassingly thick.
Claiming you are compassionate when your party has created an entire class of people who are now dependent upon a government program that is inherently unsustainable due to its redistributive nature is really quite a joke. There is nothing compassionate about making promises you can’t keep, especially when you are talking about a person’s health and general well-being in life. The democrat position in these matters demostratse the height of irresponsibility regarding the interaction between American citizens and their government.
Well you must have done the math right? or is that more GOP lies and propaganda. Try this math: LePlague gives millionaires an unnecessary income tax cut and gives an unnecessary estate tax cut to millionaire estates costing us $200 million in revenues, Now we are short $200 million. Connect the dots.
I thought we more like 11th, per more recent figures. By the likes of Fortune mag no less.
I am not disputing your claim that Maine is the 6th highest taxed State but I am unable to find a credible source that says that. What did you use for a source?
State Treasurer, Bruce Poliquin. Unlike one of his his predecessors, Dale McCormick, Bruce actually knows the answer to 2 + 2.
Isn’t Poliquin the guy that runs a business down on Popham Beach and is under investigation by the AG? But thanks for the information. I guess I will just keep searching for a “credible” source.
We have the country’s 6th LOWEST sales tax. We’re 16th from the top (NOT 6th) on state income tax. We’re 23rd from the top on property tax.
[http://modernsurvivalblog.com/retreat-living/lowest-to-highest-taxes-by-state/]
Check out what people pay in NH, NJ, PA, Cal, Mass, NY, in property tax.
Typing in capital letters doesn’t make you sound smarter or make what you say sound anymore convincing. In fact, if you find that you are having to use capital letters to make your point, then your point may not be worth making.
No country or state ever cut their way to prosperity. Cutting the safety net will do nothing except hurt the children of Maine. What we need are more jobs. With more jobs there would be fewer people in need of financial support. Didn’t LePage run on a platform of “Good paying jobs of Mainers” Where are they?
So what you are telling me is you actually believe that 1 in 4 Mainers are disabled? Is this correct? If not, then what you really believe is socialized medicine. This is what this whole issue is really all about, isn’t it, socialized medicine. LePage’s plan will still protect Medicaid for 290,000 Mainers, so the safety net is still there.
As far as the jobs are concerned, haven’t you been reading the papers? Under LePage the unemployment rate went down .6% and all the new jobs coming to Maine haven’t even hit the books yet.
Yes, I believe in socialized medicine if that’s what you are calling single payer health insurance like Medicare.
The problem is that no one on Maine Care pays a premium – how about if everyone on it paid $50 a month – that would put a big dent in the deficit.
the unemployment rate went down, because people unemployment benefits ran out, and their no longer being counted.
Remember that fact when Obama claims he has lowered the unemployment rate.
Also baby boomers are retiring in large numbers.
C’mon Sally -no country or state ever taxed their way to prosperity either. I agree that we need more jobs and we need to educate folks to work those jobs.
Yes, you can tax your way to prosperity and we have done it in the past.
Industries and businesses go where there is a pool of workers to hire. So education comes first. How do you think you will get an educated work force if not through taxes?
They also go where transportation and communications facilities fit their needs. The money to develop those facilities come from taxes.
To make money you have to spend money. If the state wants to make money (jobs) it has to spend money (taxes).
C’mon Sally, that’s pretty lame. I’d be embarrassed if I wrote that pablum – you can do better.
Milo you know she’s right, even when you play the stock market, you have to spend to make money. The problem with the lower tax rates, is that companies on longer, invest in themselves to keep from paying higher taxes; why should they, they can just keep the money. Buying equipment, updating plants, all makes work for others, keeping your money under the mattress help no one, not even yourself.
Business and industry go where there are resources, human or natural. They seldom develop them themselves. Soft ware research corporations don’t go out into the middle of Maine woods to set up a facility. Paper mills don’t set up plants on Route 128. If we in Maine want new industry we have to develop the resources they need before they will come. Developing resources takes money, tax money. I don’t understand how this is a lame concept.
Sally, I agree that taxes are necessary to create infrastructure and security. We just can’t tax our way to prosperity. At some point, the goose stops laying the golden eggs.
Well, yeah!!! However the tax rates are the lowest they have been in years for the upper middle class and the wealthy. Now would be an excellent time to start investing in education, communication and shore up some of the infrastructure we let go for too long.
Nothing you said here has anything to do with the DHHS budget.
Milo and I weren’t talking about the DHHS budget.
Maybe you should read your own comment that started with:
“No country or state ever cut their way to prosperity. Cutting the
safety net will do nothing except hurt the children of Maine.”
Then you decided to go off on another track. One easier to defend.
Go annoy someone else.
Actually Milo Switzerland DID tax their way to prosperity so did Connecticut, and Maryland…. BUT there is a point of diminishing returns. By keeping the taxes VERY high you keep out the folks who can not afford the high priced lifestyle. Those are the folks most likely to need services. Although Maine has a high tax rate when compared to Maine income, it is no where near as high as New Jersey or Connecticut.
There’s one important point you gloss over: our high tax rate is as a percentage of income. Maine wages are much lower than that or our New England neighbors. Choking off money coming into the state, even if it is the dreaded federal money, will hurt efforts to boost our economy. More jobs will mean higher wages, which in turn means lower taxes as a percentage of income. The question is, which is the quickest way to more jobs, cutting state spending, or spending it wisely?
Cutting.
The private sector has to depend on others in the private sector for honest growth. A larger government can’t grow forever. 42% of every dollar of GDP was spent by the government in 2010. There comes a point when governments choke off growth in the private sector. 2010 was that point. Thankfully government spending is coming down. Guess what? So is unemployment. Coincidence?
The question being is government spending declining because unemployment is going down, or is unemployment going down because government spending is declining.
I would guess the government not cutting as many unemployment checks is the decline, BUT today the system is so (purposely) complex that that may not be the correct answer.
It is my understanding that the Obama admin is spending as much as $500 billion less then they did in 2010. Not only that, many states and communities have laid off many public service workers because of budget constraints. If money spent by the government actually created jobs in unemployment should be rising and it isn’t, its dropping.
I am not saying I know there is a cause and effect but that is what is happening.
LOL
People have been selling that line down here since Ken Curtis was governor. Funny thing, giving away our banking protection laws, stripping workers of their right to have a lawyer during worker’s compensation hearings, and giving long term tax breaks to companies for coming here hasn’t worked. Now you tell us it’s something else… Sorry Tom, I’m not buying. The truth is we have sold most of our natural resources as raw material (as opposed to finished goods) we are at the end of the supply line, our energy costs are astronomical our work-force is old and unskilled in the area of jobs which might find Maine attractive,
To attract the number and quality of jobs we would need to bring us up to “our neighbors” we would have to turn our coastline into northern New jersey, and buy an infrastructure of pipelines, highways, and power lines which would bankrupt a far richer state.
Our best bet wuld be a Hoover-style dam on one of our six major rivers…. I can’t see the current population going for that idea…
Are you actually suggesting cheap clean source of locally produced energy? I expect there is a lynch mob forming at the Natural Resources Council right now. Good luck.
The Tax Foundation shows Maine’s local/state tax rate at 10.1%, $3832 per capita total state and local tax for the year 2009, making Maine #9. New Hampshire had an 8% rate, $3765 per capita. NH’s per capita totals were a $66 less than Maine. Not much of a difference, in fact 1.7% less. Vermont’s local and state taxes were $4181 per capita, 9.1% higher than Maine.
The way some people scream, using CAPITAL LETTERS, you would think Maine’s situation is HELL. In fact it’s pretty much like comparable states.
I checked income tax rates for 2011 and 2012. For a taxable income of $40,700 and filing jointly, the income tax in 2011 would have been $2113. In 2012 it would be $2086, a $27 reduction. That is a 1.3%. For a taxable income of $250,000, filing jointly, taxes went from $19,903.50 to $19,876.50, also a $27 reduction. This is 0.14%. Is this significant?
Your analysis is completely bogus. You also fail to mention that LePage lowered the minimum taxable income to $19,500 for a single earner and $39,000 for a couple filing jointly. Anyone falling in these two categories no longer pay any state income taxes. Isn’t this good? This will help these workers buy their heating oil. Of course, under the Baldacci plan: $19,499* .085 = $1,657 in state income tax; $38,999 * .085 = $3,315. So which plan is better again and which party represents the poor better? Under the LePage plan, a single income earner with a taxable income of < $19,500 pays no state income tax and under the LePage plan a couple filing jointly with an income < $39,000 pays no state income tax. This puts $1,657 into the pocket of this single earner and also puts $3,315 into the pockets of this lucky couple filing jointly. I will admit that these new rates go into effect in Jan 2013, so obviously did not contribute to the bi-annual WELFARE DEFICIT. This is a fact and you can check it out yourself. Now please stop lying to the good people of Maine.
For those making more than these minimums, the tax rate went from 8.5% to 7.95%. Let's do some math. Baldacci plan: $250,000 * .085 = $21,250 in state income tax. LePage plan: $250,000 * .0795 = $19,875. Let's see the savings now: $21,250 – $19,875 = $1,375 in savings that they can now spend to help support their local businesses.
This about sums it up. Now let's continue to focus on cutting the waste and better manage our money, so we can keep more of our own money to re-invest into our local communities to support local business and job growth.
No more taxes to take care of those who never planned in such a way as to take care of themselves. I’m paying for my health care. I do not want to spend more of MY tax money to pay for another persons health care.
One day you might lose your job and not be able to find another one. One day, you might become disabled. One of your children or grandchildren could become disabled.
When that day comes, you will be revealed as a person who mistakenly thought he was invulnerable.
Based on your sense on invulnerability, you hope to slash the social safety net. If you succeed, it will not be there when YOU need it. This is called cutting off your own nose to spite someone else’s face.
It is very easy to pass judgement on others when misfortune continues to drive by your door.
Willardjohn: Too many people think they have everything under control. They don’t realize that everybody is just one disaster away from significant financial or emotional difficulties that will make them dependent on help from others.
Your health care costs will go up either way to support those who show up at hospitals with no insurance. The next time you or a relative goes to the hospital for even a day, check out the invoiced bill. You would be amazed at what they charge for hospital socks, slippers, etc. All these items are priced to help offset the costs of care for those who have no ability to pay.
Now if you wish to start a movement to deny health care to those who can’t pay, there are quite a few of the wealthy who might support you. Take away health insurance from the workers who still get them and see how many can afford the premiums.
Well another lame article from BDN.
As has been stated, we are the 6th highest taxed state in the country, fact
We have increased state funding to DHHS by 78% in 10 years, fact
We are 35% above national avg in state funding of Medicaid, fact.
Most of this to gain extra Fed matching funds even though the programs were not needed, fact
The governor wants to take a common sense approach and reduce this.
Lastly many of these Liberals who created the mess over the last 10 years, the Pingrees, Brennans et al are now having a fit, demonizing the Governor who is cleaning up their mess, Fact!
Bush and the GOP put our economy in the toilet, FACT.
When people are out of work, welfare increases. FACT.
When the GOP stops obstructing all efforts to fix the problem they caused, starts creating jobs, starts giving a care about ALL the people and stops catering to ONLY the rich, then America will move forward. FACT.
The GOP cheerleaders who voted for Bush deserve blame for helping to cause the mess we are in. FACT.
I’ll do you one better, I blame Lyndon B Johnson and his failed “Great Society” which started us on the road to the welfare state and untold defecits.
Too bad you clueless liberals dont understand that most of hard working Mainers now have a governor who represents everyone not just the special interest groups!
LePage represents a very small group of Mainers. He is following orders from ALEC which is not a Maine organization.
Take a look at LePage’s tax cuts. You will find he is not representing your interests. You just think he is because he is rude to intelligent, educated people who ask questions.
What other defense does a Troglodyte have in a modern world? lol.
You need to check your facts. Bet you voted for Kerry/Edwards.
He also voted for ” the great one” Emperor Nobama and Mumbles the Cusser Biden. Look at the mess they have created in Washington. It is time to boot all of the Liberals out in Washington and continue to clean house of Liberals here.
Whose mess is it?????? Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Republicans send a lot of people to Congress in 2010 with with a laser focus on blocking all legislation they could call President Obama “the worst president” “ineffective” “bullying” “unAmerican” “dictator” “socialist commie” in the 2012 election.
Wow. You just used all the words that actually describe B. Hussein O. You forgot marxist and crony but you did your best. And the person who used the phrase “focused like a laser” was Barry. He was going to focus like a laser on jobs but went golfing 80+ times instead.
Bet Jimmy Carter hopes that B.H.O. gets reelected so people will forget that he was the worst president ever.
How I love the hyperbole on these pages. Worst president ever? James Buchanan nearly lost the country; it took the bloodiest war in our history to get it back. Andrew Johnson’s policies led to a century of Jim Crow politics in the former Confederacy. And George W. Bush 1) used 9-11 as an excuse to start a war of choice against a country that had nothing to do with the attacks; 2) turned a budget surplus into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression; 3) allowed the outing of a CIA agent in retaliation for a truthful report by the agent’s husband on the administration’s false claims that Saddam was getting weapons materials from Africa.
You guys won’t give Obama points for anything. I understand that you would rather see the poor die untreated in the streets (or clog up emergency rooms at your expense) rather than spend a penny of tax money on a comprehensive universal health care program. I understand that you hate public transportation and don’t care about the degradation of the environment. But if a Republican president had taken out Osama bin Laden and finessed Libya with the skill that Obama displayed, you would be calling for a new denomination of bills with his picture on it.
What makes me laugh is that this argument is equivalent to the old “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”
These folks really would rather be robbed and sold out by one party or the other.
Bush Clinton, Bush and Obama all thought spending our money to make a Democracy in the middle east was a good idea.
Bush Clinton, Bush and Obama are for allowing the illegals to stay.
Bush Clinton Bush and Obama like NAFTA and all expanded it.
Bush Clinton Bush and Obama all thyink that borrowing from communist China to pay for our world policing operation is a good idea.
Bush Clinton Bush and Obama are all career politicians, and haven’t a clue what working for a living entails.
So go ahead, pick a side…. Me, I’ll sit over here so the mud doesn’t reach and watch.
QED
delete
Here’s one link for you to read about how $753 billion became $7 TRILLION. Must be that fuzzy right wing math again! http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/1010/opinions-fact-comment-germany-france-debt-crisis-steve-forbes.html
This comment was connected to a larger comment I left above it. I see the BDN hasn’t posted it yet! Must be too much truth in there. I get it. The premise of the last comment was to show ya that George Busch created TARP for $753 BILLION, which caused 4 MILLION jobs to be lost by the time Obama was sworn in January 2009, and today his TARP has cost American taxpayer’s $7 TRILLION. But, you wingnuts will blame Obama and Clinton for Busch’s years, becuase you can’t bring yourself to put the blame where it should be: on the back of the republic party!
Facts? That’s a foreign concept to the GOP. Their forte is dishonesty and hypocrisy;we can only hope they don’t procreate and pass on those genes.
Wow you are hateful.
I applaud you. I also applaud the someone brought up Lyndon Johnson instead of some “communist, socialist, liberal, etc pointless crap”. President Johnson was one tough nut who saw the failings of society.
An editorial, not an article. And, as before, I think the figure is 11th nationally.
We have the country’s 6th LOWEST sales tax. We’re 16th from the top (NOT 6th) on state income tax. We’re 23rd from the top on property tax.[http://modernsurvivalblog.com/…]
Are you forgetting that Maine’s population is on average older than Florida? The older people are the more they’re going to need that safety net, the one most of them worked for all their lives. The only way cutting eligibility will decrease those numbers is by harming the health of our oldest with the very obvious consequences of earlier mortality … ironic considering it was the Republicans who cried “death panels” during the health care debates.
That was when it was convenient to their agenda. That’s different.
you do know that its not just elderly folks getting assistance from the state. be real, try hard to think beyond the “hurting the elderly” sound bite.
….
I love how you wingnuts are always screaming, “Stop spending money on other countries! We need the money to take care of our own country first!”, but first chance you get when you hear a single parent of one is going to get an increase in foodstamps, you yell, “Thieves!!!!! Stop using our money to eat!!! Get a great paying full-time job with every benefit included!!!”.
Disgraceful.
“Gov. John McKernan raised the sales tax by 1 percent…”
He and the Legislature raised it by one cent, not 1 percent.
No, he raised the sales tax from 5% to 6% and then it was lowered it to 5.5% and then back down to 5%
I responded to my own comment above.
I seem to recall the rate went from 6 percent to 5.5 percent automatically, sparked by some kind of formula. But didn’t it then take the Legislature awhile to lower it back down to 5 percent?
While at the store, I realized I goofed.
McKernan and the Legislature raised the sales tax not by one cent, or even one percent. They raised it 20 percent.
The sales tax was 5 percent. Then it increased to 6 percent. That’s a 20 percent increase.
Before someone says I’ve goofed again, consider this: If the sales tax had gone from 5 percent to 10 percent, I don’t know of many people who would say that would have been a 5 percent increase; they would have said it was a 100 percent increase. That’s because the tax would have doubled.
Another way to look at it is you buy something for $100. If the sales tax is 5 percent, you’ll pay $5 in tax. But if you pay $6 in tax, you will have paid 20 percent more in tax.
Unlike many posters, I don’t usually dwell on appearances, but is this recurring photo of Mary Mayhew more recent than the shots of her testifying, for example? Can’t say as I’d recognize her by comparing the two. Sorry for the trivia.
Pictures of her explaining the DHHS over-runs have a distraught “in over my head” look. The one above appears to be a cute college sorority shot. Neither picture gives much confidence that major problems can be solved.
Lepage created most (not all) of the problem himself…….thinking it would benifit him politically. I think it may have backfired on him. I find the same generic problem with all Tea Baggers.
the problem started with the fleebaggers starting unsustainable programs that were funded by smoke and mirrors.Fleebaggers just keep kicking the can down the road.Guess what over promising progressives other peoples money to keep the couch crowd comfy has run out.Time to dust them off and put them to work making money and give them some self responsibility.
If it’s a financial crisis not a welfare problem then why is the state shifting it’s financial woes onto those least able to handle them? Could it be because they have no political weight to this administration?
The poor are easy targets. They make no mention of what the explosion of minimum wage jobs has done to the flow of revenue into government in the first place. The governor has sniffed out 1% fraud in unemployment and now wants to spend millions to ferret the cheats out! lol. They have no plan or clue as to how to raise revenues, like say, create jobs or get the wages up into this century for the existing jobs.
Taxes is what feeds the state its income, Gross Domestic Product is another way of feeding the money to the state.. Maine don’t have a GDP worth talking about so taxes must follow inflation.. If you cut taxes you cut income to the state.. Cutting taxes will bankrupt the state.. It is that simple.. Budget cuts is another way to make ends meet.. But if you have these obligations that must be met you really cant cut taxes and cut your obligations and call it an budget shortfall.. By your own fault are we now short on money.. Teapartiers would rather cut all taxes, kill the income tax, and cut all welfare and medical insurance and leave the poor and needy in the street.. They want minimum wages to be 25 cents a day like it was way back when.. This is their agenda and I’m sorry people like people like Mainemajority are blindsided and cant see this.. It is people like that that ruin this society for the others.. People like him and the Koch brothers want to keep the poor, elderly, and disabled suppressed.. This should not be..
Bankrupting the state or federal government is what the republic party stands for. They use the shortfall as a reason to say, “See? The government is not working!”. Has anyone noticed Romney and Gingrich’s idea of “cutting spending”? Gingrich wants to create a moon colony and Romney wants to increase the size and power of our military and both want to cut or do away with social programs! Yep, starve the poor/elderly/disabled to feed the rich military industrial complex they’re all invested highly in offshore! Ugh.
you call the tea partiers the problem, wanting to eliminate taxes. yet find no fault with progressive dems adding yearly to the eligibility requirements, allowing more and more people to the list the rest of us need to support. do you really think that 19 and 20 year olds need to be supported with tax dollars? that 2 1/2 times the poverty level still require additional assistance? at what point would you cut off helping everyone who asks?
this state has for years continued to grow its welfare state and we can no longer afford to support everyone. if you are so devoted to helping, then donate your money to the cause. i for one cannot afford the luxury, i have my own bills to pay.
I’m sure some sort of paper reduction policy would eliminate half of the shortfall. The other half could be achieved by cutting the salaries of the governor, his staff, and the legislature by 40% just like my wife’s wages have been cut.
Interesting isn’t it that when salary reduction is the topic the legislators and the LePage administrators are very good at tightening everybody’s belts except their own. How can it be that everybody else is earning too much for the work they produce but the legislators and the administrators deserve their salaries?
On February 9th 2009 this editorial by Matt Wickenhaiser of the Portland Press Herald appeared in the BDN
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine stands to receive more than $1 billion in economic stimulus money from Washington ……. by the end of next year ……………… It would provide Maine with $100 education ; $52 million for school renovation projects; almost $200 million for infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and clean water; $260 million to help state and local budgets; and $434 million for Medicaid. ……………. In at least one version of the Senate bill, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, secured Medicaid funding that’s only slightly less than the House’s sum ………… As a result of Snowe’s provision, Maine would receive up to $420 million in additional federal Medicaid assistance.
From this article it would appear that the LePage administration started with $1billion stimulus money from the federal government. Where is it and why, one year later, does the DHHS have a $220 million dollar over run when it had just received $420 million the year before?
Something doesn’t add up. Perhaps the welfare fraud everyone is talking about is LePage’s .
In 2009 Baldacci was governor and his administration spent all this money to cover his budget. LePage was elected in 2010, assumed office in January of 2011. By then, the money had been spent–and, as was charged at the time, it was spent unwisely to shore up programs that everyone knew would not be sustainable once the one-time influx of cash was gone.
According to the article the money was not available to Maine until the end of 2010. The Baldacci administration would have a hard time spending $1billion dollars in between December of 2010 and January of 2011. Some of it probably was used but some of that $1billion must have been there for the LePage administration to use.
But the Baldacci budget covers until June of 2011. The money was anticipated and spent in his budget. And even with this anticipated money, LePage had to piece together a supplemental budget to cover the rest of the Baldacci biennial budget. That is my understanding of the situation. I am open to correction if anyone knows differently.
OK lets say the Baldacci administration managed to spend $1billion dollars extra coming into the state during the last months of 2010 with a budget extending into 2011. One billion extra dollars would have left LePage inheriting a pretty clean slate, everything paid up. So explain the loss or mismanagement or over run of $220million dollars in less than one year later. Slice and dice it what ever way you want. Something still isn’t adding up.
This is the whole problem, you see we should never have accepted this Crack Cocain Midecaid err stimulous money because we signed up all these extra free loaders with this money and alas the money is gone and now we have all these strings attached.
I say cut all these damn programs and stop the spending!
LePage and Mayhew faked the budget to get the tax cuts through.
They manufactured a crisis to cut health care the neediest.Prediction: Mayhew resigns in disgrace.
Previous administrations set up unsustainable programs that they knew would one day fail.
We have a massive amount of people on welfare. In the early 2000’s there were several groups of people that came here exclusively for the welfare benefits. We have a VERY generous medical insurance program, and it is NOT sustainable.
Medical costs go up every year for everyone, but the Mainecare system doesn’t get any more money than it did the previous year. It does get more enrollments though, many of whom shouldn’t be on it or abuse the system.
I personally know people that go to the hospital for a stomach ache. I know of people that go just so they can get a “drug” prescription.
I tell them that it’s wrong what they do, but they don’t care, because they’re getting either the attention they need or the fix they want. They do this by using Mainecare.
Budget shortfalls in the past have been covered over and kicked down the road by borrowing money or issuing bonds. All that accomplishes is shoulder the mistakes and incompetence of former leaders onto the backs of the next administration or onto our children that will have to pick up the tab.
We want to be out of debt, we cannot afford to make Maine a welfare magnet any longer.
The tax paying minority can no longer afford to support the majority.
I love how lower tax rates are derisively referred to as tax “Breaks” or “Cuts”. Like someone is getting something sneaky or illicit. Even the phonetics of those words are inherently off putting to me.
When everyone does not recieve the same tax reduction, It is a “tax break” for those fortunate few who are rich enough to qualify.
So would you call it a “tax penalty” for those same people who pay more every time the tax rate is increased? No, then it is called “fairness”.
So the rich should not pay taxes like the poor. it is a tax break for those unfortunate enough not to be rich.50% of Mainers pay no or little taxes maybe we should close those loopholes or tax breaks.
But these tax reductions were geared to Maine people making between 20-80K $ per year.
I think letting hard working people keep what they rightfully earned is not a tax breaks as these stupid Liberals seem to think.
Also someone making 20000 a year is not rich.
Again all we see is people wanting to steal from others by raising tax rates to feed the trough, the real problem is we have too many pigs, feeding at the public trough!
“MaineCare eligibility was expanded during the boom times in the late 1990s, an impulse that seemed right at the time.”
That impulse never ever seemed right to me. You never spend the extra revenues that a booming economy provides. To do so is a sure fire way to get exactly where Maine and every other State is, on the verge of bankruptcy. I realize there are people that need help but Maine has already chased millions of dollars of tax revenue out of this State because it is too expensive to live here. Wealthy seniors have become Florida residents in droves in order to avoid Maine’s punitive tax rates. They all still live here, they just do not contribute to the treasury. That puts an additional burden on those few of us that still work here and pay taxes, about 48% of us. The pot of money has shrunk because of the mass exodus and this editorial can only think of one thing to do – raise taxes. Typical of liberals who always conclude that the programs are way to vital to cut and the only thing we can do is raise taxes.
Under the guise of creating jobs, this man spreads his disdain for liberalism. He’s anti-education, anti-environment, anti-human services… What does raising the estate tax threshold do to create jobs??? I can see this man cackling with his cohorts at the images of the elderly & mentally ill being booted into the streets when the funding dries up…
This is clearly a budget crisis occasioned by a flawed analysis last spring. Budgeting is a function of two variables and it’s a grave mistake to limit budget balancing to spending cuts. Taxes must be re-evaluated also.
When considering tax policy, it’s a mistake to speak of taxes in the abstract. It leads to conclusions that are misleading.
Marginal rates, effective rates and graduated rates are all terms which are valid but have different meanings. From a policy point of view, equitable tax obligations among citizens is not as simple as it sounds.
We have a graduated system which, in theory, should result in taxpayers paying a greater percentage of their income in taxes as their ability to pay increases. Yet because of the convoluted nature of federal and state tax codes, it is more likely that those with the highest incomes from all sources will pay less (as a percentage of their gross income) than those in the middle and lowest ranges.
While this may be fair in the sense that it’s completely legal, it is certainly inequitable and goes a long way to explaining why we presently face severe problems in balancing budgets.
I’m all in favor of carefully examining every dollar our governments spend, but I also favor carefully examining every dollar our governments decide not to collect.
So “Tax Breaks” for the “Wealthy” that do not take effect for almost another two years is to blame for this short fall? Huh. Oh, must be Progressive math. .
But before we all climb
on our high horses & proclaim “Work hard, people on welfare depend on
you,” let’s just make sure we’re covering our OWN COSTS of state services
(roads, police, schools, fire, etc.) first. It’s easy to check: The
2011 Maine State Operating funds were $8.9 Billion for the 1.3 million people
living here. If you take out the $1.2 billion for welfare we’re so angry
about you’re left with $7.7 billion in other state expenditures. Do the
math & you’ll find that’s $5900 per capita in NON-WELFARE state
services. Now, multiply that by the total number of people in your
household (yes, including children – ESPECIALLY children). So for a
family of 5, that number would be $29,500. Now go & check your
family’s 2011 STATE taxes paid out and see if you even cover your OWN family’s
burden on state services. My guess is few on this list come
close. If you do, go ahead & complain all you want. If not,
you’d better hope the people who are ACTUALLY footing the bill for those on
welfare (as well as OUR OWN funding shortages) don’t decide to take the same
spiteful attitude towards us as we are taking toward those on welfare. We
just might hear them say, “if you are going to use the state services I’M
paying for, get a BETTER JOB!!” http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Maine_state_budget
Interesting. I don’t see any consideration given for the taxes businesses pay. Could not one consider the fact that if business didn’t pay as much in taxes, they would have better pay rates for Maine workers? Are businesses allowed to question the amount of taxes they pay.
Unfortunately you left out the hundreds of millions of dollars that high ranking legislators and executive branch employees manage to siphon off to businesses that they have direct financial interest in.
The whole place (Augusta) is totally corrupt, no part is worse than another, they are all crooked to one degree or another.
I don’t plan on supporting them any further.
If you really think that argument is logical and meaningful, then all I can do is *sigh* in resignation for the future of this state.
I give up, I am going to vote for every leftist kook, and support every liberal agenda that Augusta can dream up. I support doubling the salaries and benefits of all Public employee unions, let’s let em retire at 45 with full salaries.
I support giving state money to everyone who claims they need it, regardless of demonstrated need, or lack of. I support borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars to fix the crumbling roads, who cares how we will pay it back, it doesn’t matter.
I support every cause and liberal spending scheme that can be dreamed up. Spend all they can get their hands on, and all the can borrow and more power to em.
When the state goes broke, which is inevitable to anyone with a brain and minimum math skills, then let the whiners fight over and feast on the carcass.
I am going to enjoy watching that someday.
Go for it country boy and I’ll support every tea bag dumbo, insane banking scheme, preemptive war, tax cut for corporations and the wealthy, safety net cuts for the poor, education cuts, NAFTA giveaway treaties, every wealth transfer scheme, privacy invasion bill and subsidy for oil and gas that the Republicans vote for. That should even things out a bit.
Better yet why don’t we look at both our parties platforms weed out what hurts the country and tell our representatives we don’t like the way they are representing us.
All we hear about is cuts from welfare and medicaid, medicare we hear nothing about cuts from the lawmakers who has the best part time job in the state ask the part timers at some of the local business and see if they get paid mileage,sick days, health insurance or any of the other perks that come with our state lawmakers part time jobs.
This quip is truly deserving of a nomination for “Thoughtless Comment of the Day.”
Regardless of their political ideology, folks who serve Maine in the House or the Senate deserve better than that. It is a thankless full time job that pays less than minimum wage for the hours it requires. More importantly, success is not related to the wealth one accumulates, but by the performance one delivers for the people measured directly by the people every couple of years.
you may call it a thankless full time job but when researched you find that they are more then well paid for what hours they work and still get paid mileage for traveling to and from work and per diem for overnight stays and free travel for checking on constitutes all over the state and health care we the people pay for once again tell me again how the minimun wage part timer at local business fare as well as part time state lawmakers.
The premise of this article is so disconnected to any of the factual data, present or past. A budget problem? Then this is a budget problem that seems to crop up every year that I have been living in Maine–so since 2008. Is the fact that the state must pay the feds back $29 million for improper billing for services a budget problem? Is the fact that the feds will not allow the current system of billing for PNMIs to continue a budget problem? Is a 78% increase in the public assistance for food, health care, and general welfare just a budget problem? What about the millions of dollars the former commissioner just couldn’t account for–now that is certainly a problem with her budgeting, but not a problem with the current administration’s attempt to fix structural problems at DHHS that lead to yearly deficits. It is a welfare problem, a DHHS structural problem that must be addressed by reforms and spending cuts.
LePage thinks welfare fraud is one word. Not sure if he picked that up from Husson College or not? Maybe Mardens ? He cut taxes for the rich and now wants to cut health benefits for the poor. He’s not only a poor Governor for Maine but a bad example of a man who had alot of helpful hands digging himself off the street of Lewiston. His father was an abuser and I think he’s got the gene. He needs to lose that big mouth and pit bull attitude.
The Dhhs problem is a state problem …..
Yep…no money sure is a budget problem. The answer….
raise taxes! Damn those rich, they aren’t paying enough.
When there is no money left to pay pensions, no problem…
raise taxes. When there is no rich people to tax more, no problem..
raise taxes. When you take from others to pay for those who
don’t give and there are more who don’t give….something got to give.
No, don’t damn them, just make the system they are ALSO a part of fair. Unfair taxation is not much better than a lack of representation.
I do not think that estates should be taxed at all, it is a family affair and has nothing to do with the jurisdiction of the State. People are sovereign, so are their families. I think that if more money is needed to help the needy which I believe is a good idea, we should expand opportunity by ending the drug war. This business has enough revenue to fund the DHHS budget completely. So why can’t we consider it?
People are not sovereign. Sounds nice, but a fallacy. You are a citizen of the US of A. Contribute appropriately, or go somewhere else.
You may be a slave but not me, don’t tell me of my citizen status. Who are you? My home is my castle and my body is only my business, I am a sovereign spiritual being with a corporal presence. No State has jurisdiction over me. Taxation on income, consumption of commodities or other business transactions are within the commercial jurisdiction of the State, but I am not commercial nor is my family. Ending the war on drugs will provide enough money to balance the budget and empty the jails. I do not think you know what you’re talking about.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Actually I agree with you on the war on drugs thing… You are right there. A fair, equally distributed, progressive tax structure would do the same thing however, and on top of getting rid of the war on drug expense would make for much more revenue and less of a need for taxation. But extreme libertarian ideas like yours won’t even stand up to the power the state exercises over you. And please understand I’m not condoning the use of state power in that way without exception, but extreme libertarian utopias can’t exist, will never exist, would result in destructive anarchy with those with the most power and money exploiting those with less power or resources. I’ve grasped at least some of the concept…
Fair taxation of the wealthiest Mainers, so they contribute to the same degree that lower and middle income families contribute would nearly SOLVE the DHHS shortfall. LePage is not helping…
http://sdemetri.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/another-manufactured-budget-crisis-and-the-fix/
http://sdemetri.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/st_locgdp/
What is with that strange photo of Mary Mayhew? She isn’t even mentioned in the article.
A short term one cent raise in state sales tax is a great idea and after this crissis is over perhaps we could keep this small increase and use the revenue from it for oil subsidies for low income people.
Take every dollar from people in Maine that make over $1M and the state would still go broke. The issue is that Democrats view anyone with money like the tree in The Giving Tree written by Shel Silverstein.
Regardless of whether the poor and sick are to blame for being poor and sick, the strategy of Republicans across the country is tragically misguided. Cutting taxes clearly is not working, and it has certainly been tried long enough for us to know. The corporations and banks most flush with cash aren’t spending it. The richest people in the country aren’t producing anything. Instead, like Romney, they’re cutting up and selling the carcasses of the industries they’re destroying.
Meanwhile, Republicans have let the credit card companies and Big Pharma write our bankruptcy laws, so no one can escape their 30% interest charges. They scare everyone that there will be death panels if the government elected by the people intervenes in health care, but they have no problem with unaccountable insurance clerks deciding whether or not grandma needs a cancer operation. Now they’re doing their damnedest to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, so that we have no safety net.
Biologists will tell you that a parasite that destroys its host too quickly can’t thrive. What will the 1% feed on when the middle class is gone?
somehow the BDN has determined that welfare spending isn’t our problem, budgeting is???
Maybe we should ask Pres. Obama how to fix the budget…oh wait, there hasn’t been a budget passed from him in over a thousand days, which is as long as he has been in office!…but I’m sure that has been subject to front page articles in the BDN…not…
Every time that LePage and Mary Mayhew open their mouths about cutting Mainecare and the Medicaid program here they all but ensure that the PUBLIC OPTION is going to keep being brought up. As those who fought in Vietnam can remember all to well, it’s not who has the most that win. It’s the one’s who just keep going that wear you down to achieve victory.
PO has been out there, in 1 form or another, for a very long time. That it is so inevitable is due to both the health care insurance industry and the Big Pharmacy companies pumping in huge, and I mean $500 million every 6 months, amounts of money into both the media and the various Candidate’s campaign fund’s for their advancing their positions AGAINST PUBLIC OPTION. That they are spending this kind of hard cash tells me that the idea of PO has them not just worried. No, they are TERRIFIED of what PO could do and what it would reveal about their little scam’s, kickback scheme’s and price fxxing, not to mention the dirty little secret of the Pharmacutical Industry, i.e. by witholding new drug’s until the body count caused by their witholding becomes so great that they can release the drug and make a ‘killing’ off it’s release. And some folk’s wonder why the industry wants a longer patent coverage window ? Look at the drug Omeprazole, commonly called PRILOSEC. It was out under perscription for over 5 years. When the coverage came off, it was immediately released in generic form, with a huge reduction in price, and similarly huge health benefit’s, to the consumer market. That release also spawned at least a dozen other similar drug’s being created. Just go look in your local drug store or Wally World’s pharmacy section. It’s all there and in plain sight.
Now the issue of COPD is the hot button item. With PRIMATENE (and yes I know how many of you Doctor’s and P.A.’s hate the stuff) now gone, there’s no real OTC medication available. Just the pill’s, that you have to thru the DEA check for (Not a squawk to the DEA folk’s. Meth is a serious issue and the pill’s are dual use !) or whatever samples of whatever sprayer you can get. Here we go again. How many people are gonna have to die before the currently expensive med’s, like SYMBICORT (at $75.– a throw, under co-pay no less !!! ) and DULERA are gonna be released ? At some point PUBLIC OPTION and the body count are going to come together. When they do, and it’s coming quicker than some realize, it would be a good idea for the Boards of GSK and A/Z, and the other’s as well, to get to the moon real quick as it’s about the only place they’re gona be safe, AND, beyond the reach of the DOJ prosecutor’s when the real costs of price fixing and product market restriction and manipulation are found out. For that kind of body count Holder just might re-open Alcatraz.
Whenever you give away free stuff more people show up to get more free stuff. At some point we will run out of free stuff as we create more needy people.
Stop it!