In a perfect world, political debate would take place on the high plane of honesty and fair play. Citizens could judge the facts and draw their own conclusions. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world, as we were reminded by a column from Rep. Seth Berry that ran in the Bangor Daily News on Aug. 16. The article contains wild exaggerations and blatant fabrications, as typified by the headline: “Largest tax shift in Maine history hurts working families.”
The subject is the $150 million tax reduction package passed by the Legislature last year as part of the budget. The bill won strong support from Democrats, including Berry, and passed the House 123-19. The changes to the tax system finally provide real relief to our heavily taxed residents. Everyone’s income taxes go down starting next year, including “working families,” and certainly no one gets “hurt.”
As a matter of fact, the Maine Today newspapers, including the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel, examined the tax package and declared that when the tax cuts are fully enacted, the top 10 percent of taxpayers will “shoulder a higher percentage of the state’s income tax burden; the rest will shoulder less.” They stressed this fact by stating, “Maine’s income tax is more progressive because of the changes.”
But facts evidently don’t matter to Berry. He and his fellow Democrats had already settled on their campaign motto — that Republicans had given a “huge tax cut to the rich.” They have leveled that charge in OpEd columns, radio shows and even political ads on TV.
With the tax cuts objectively judged by major newspapers as weighted in favor of the poor and middle class, Berry switched to a slightly different claim, writing, “Due to many tax measures passed by the majority, the few making $350,000 will receive an income tax cut of $3,000. In future years, this windfall will increase to more than $21,000 per year.”
What he did with this sleight-of-hand maneuver was combine two new laws — the budget and LD 849. As a member of the Taxation Committee, he knows better. His intent is to confuse readers.
The income tax cuts take effect in 2013, and nearly all Maine households will see higher take-home pay. In contrast, LD 849 is unlikely to affect anyone for a decade or more.
LD 849 is a “trigger” bill. It alters the way surplus state revenue is dispersed. After all state obligations are met, surplus revenue is filtered through a series of funds called the “cascade.” The last “catch bucket” in the cascade is the “income tax relief fund.” Under this new law, surplus funds would gradually lower the state’s income tax rates.
According to Maine Revenue Services, in order to give “the rich” the $21,000 tax cut Berry claims, state government would have to experience a surplus of $3 billion. Considering the entire state budget is $3 billion, this claim is ludicrous.
Berry continues his distortions, claiming that cuts to towns and property tax programs will cost “homeowners and renters more than $400 apiece.” This is another whopper.
The $400 figure apparently alludes to the property tax relief program — the so-called “circuit breaker” — where the maximum refund was reduced from $2,000 to $1,600 under the previous administration. Even if the $2,000 was still in place, the average refund last year was $494 under the general program and $368 under the program for seniors. Only about 3 percent of applicants received the maximum amount.
Any cuts to towns have nothing to do with his fictional $400 number. Municipal revenue sharing, in fact, actually went up. The big cuts occurred in fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Revenue sharing during those years fell steadily from $133 million in 2008 to $97 million in 2010. It bottomed out at $93 million in 2011, the last budget year of the Baldacci administration.
In 2012, by contrast, revenue sharing increased to $96.9 million, while in 2014 it is scheduled to reach $141 million. Republicans stopped the bleeding and, for the first time since 2008, increased money going to towns. The budget also appropriated an additional $63 million for public schools, which directly alleviated property tax pressure.
Ideological differences between parties are a normal part of politics. As long as all sides debate the issues honestly, the process works. Misleading the public to score cheap election-year points damages our democratic system and denies the public the truth.
State Rep. Susan Morissette, R-Winslow, serves on the Insurance and Financial Services Committee and the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. State Sen. Tom Martin, R-Kennebec, chairs the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee and serves on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee.
Get the facts: bhamberry.blogspot.com, mecep.org. If Republicans now want to run from their record of tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class, the elderly, and the disabled – not just LD 1043 but also 849 and 1746 – then they should walk the walk and put in a bill to repeal all of these cost shifts and unfunded giveaways.
Oh please, Seth. You wanted to tax car repairs and diaper services for crying out loud. Your plan stunk and the Maine people knew it and repealed it. The Republican plan is fair and progressive. 70,000 Mainers will no longer be paying income tax. You just can’t stand it, can you?
Not taxing “The Rich” at the even higher rates you want is not “giving” them anything. It is not your money to “give”. More tax cuts should go to those who are paying the most in taxes instead of making it more “progressive”. “Soak the rich” is not “fair”.
1. All your arguments, claims and studies ignore that the people you claim are paying taxes are not because they get huge refunds from the federal govt.
2. Your plan, the one that was rightly voted down by the people of Maine, cut “taxes for the rich” by a much bigger amount than this, but you financed it by raising taxes on car repairs, diaper services, etc., things working families actually do NEED. That was crooked.
Oh yeah, while we’re talking about that, why did your party exempt bowling alleys in that law? You could raise taxes on almost everyone except bowling alleys? Didn’t have anything to do with a new bowling alley in Portland owned by prominent Democrats did it?
3. Your class warfare becomes even more blatant when you claim LD 849 (which has yet to cut income taxes by a single penny) is going to raise taxes, but continue to ignore the federal income tax structure, which actually does impact tax rates and destroys your whole argument. This would be hilarious if you were not on the taxation committee and able to actually vote on our tax laws.
4. I’ve read up on you. From your intimidation tactics at a fair a few years ago, to the way you’re now bullying your colleagues and blasting things out on message boards. It’s divisive, dishonest and the Maine people deserve better.
Don’t you folks on the left have anything else to offer besides class warfare? You can only cut taxes for those who pay taxes. Your party needs to perpetuate poverty in order to maintain a created dependent constituency. Eradication of poverty is at cross purposes with the Democrat party. If folks become successful and independent they generally vote Republican, the last thing Dems want.
Somebody wants to run on a tax cut plan, show me a cut in the Property and Car Registration tax’s. Short of that, neither side really has anything to go bragging about.
There is a long way to go.
Those are local taxes which will go up if the State keeps cutting.