AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal for a statewide referendum in June to ask Maine voters whether they want to reduce government spending by $100 million met stiff resistance Wednesday from lawmakers and others who said it isn’t a new idea at all.
LePage first raised the idea during his State of the State address in February. Democrats immediately assailed it as a rehashed version of past tax cap proposals rejected by Maine voters at least twice previously.
Sen. Doug Thomas, R-Ripley, and Jonathan Nass, a senior policy adviser for LePage, were the only people who testified in support of the proposal when it was presented to the Legislature’s Taxation Committee on Wednesday afternoon. They argued that the bill, LD 1813, could provide a mandate for lawmakers on the issue of taxes and spending.
“If people affirmatively answered yes, we believe that would provide some backbone and some political momentum,” said Nass. “We’ve been debating a lot of these issues as a Legislature and we haven’t gotten very far.”
Taxation Committee member Rep. Joe Brooks, I-Winterport, was unequivocal in his opposition to the bill.
“I see this as being more of a popularity contest rather than a mandate,” he said.
Thomas, also a member of the Taxation Committee, said Maine needs to cut taxes in order to be more economically competitive with other states.
“I don’t believe there’s any reason that we should be spending $6 billion in the state of Maine every two years. I think it’s too much,” said Thomas. “I believe that Maine needs to compete with the other 49 states. I don’t believe that we do and we need to start somewhere. This is a good start.”
Some members of the committee said LePage’s proposal repeats numerous tax reform initiatives that have failed at the ballot box, including the so-called TABOR I and II proposals in recent years and the tax cap proposal forwarded by Carol Palesky by citizen initiative in 2004. TABOR stands for Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
Rep. Ryan Tipping-Spitz, D-Orono, said his major problem with the bill is that the question it proposes to put on the ballot would not include any specific spending cuts or budget priorities.
“Shouldn’t we talk about where exactly we’re cutting?” said Tipping-Spitz. “In the past couple of years there have been different parties in control here and there wasn’t $100 million laying around. … The cuts [under this proposal] could be textbooks for your children or health care for someone who needs it.”
Thomas shot back by calling Tipping-Spitz’s argument “scare tactics.”
“I don’t believe that as a body we are going to cut textbooks for school children,” said Thomas. “I can assure you that if we cut $100 million of a $6 billion biennial budget or if we cut $100 million from an annual $3 billion budget, the sky is not going to fall.”
Representatives from the Maine Municipal Association and Maine Mayors Coalition testified against the bill.
Geoff Herman of the Maine Municipal Association said voters need something more substantive to vote on than one sentence.
“Our concern with this bill is the cart and the ox and which should be first,” said Herman. “We need to educate the voters so when they go to the ballot box they know what they’re voting on. That’s the order of events that’s appropriate.”
Herman and other opponents of the measure questioned the value of having the referendum because as proposed it would be only advisory in nature.
Because LD 1813 is an emergency measure, it requires approval from at least two-thirds of the Legislature, which means a significant number of Democrats — who hold majorities in the Maine House and Senate — would have to support it. Members of Democratic leadership said Wednesday afternoon that such a level of support from their caucus isn’t likely.
Rep. Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, the assistant House majority leader, said it’s clear that this bill and others proposed by LePage in recent weeks “are really just campaign issues for the governor and a way to get press.”
House Majority Leader Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, agreed.
“I don’t expect the bill to go very far in this Legislature,” said Berry.
The bill is scheduled for a work session, during which the Taxation Committee is likely to vote on a recommendation to the full Legislature, on Friday.
