Earlier this month, Donald Trump gave an economic speech that was supposed to outline how he would make our country great again.
Mainers listening to his speech in the hopes of hearing a plan to provide some relief from financial hardship were left disappointed: Trump spent his time doubling down on his plans to help himself and his wealthy friends with billions of dollars in new tax breaks while leaving working families behind.
As members of the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation, we know the real impacts of tax policy on Maine families. Tax policy reflects your priorities and your belief in who drives our economy.
Trump’s plans make his priorities clear: lift up millionaires and billionaires at the expense of middle-class Mainers.
Trump’s plans will give the wealthiest Americans a backdoor tax cut that would let them pay less than half the current tax rate on a significant portion of their income. Right now, the wealthiest taxpayers in the top bracket pay 39.6 percent on their income, but the “Trump Loophole” would cut this rate by more than half to 15 percent on a significant portion of their income.
And, like Gov. Paul LePage proposed to do earlier this year in Maine, Trump has promised to repeal the federal estate tax that offers nothing for 99.8 percent of hard-working Americans — while giving his family a $4 billion dollar windfall, if Trump is indeed worth $10 billion.
Maine could pay for a lot of things we desperately need instead of footing that bill. For example, we could cover the health care costs of every Maine veteran for 10 years, or fully cover the child care costs of every Maine child under the age of 3 for eight years. We could pay off the federal student loan debt of 184,159 college students or allow every Maine caregiver to claim up to $1,200 in tax relief for the next 18 years.
Any of those investments would be a better use of our resources than handing Trump and his family a check for $4 billion.
And, to add insult to the injury of Trump’s self-serving tax plans, he has dug in his heels and continues to refuse to release his tax returns. For the last 40 years, every Democratic and Republican nominee has released their tax returns. A simple step that is a sign of accountability, transparency and honesty.
Bucking this responsibility is yet another mark of Trump’s disregard for the American people and his own word. As recently as February 2015, Trump guaranteed he would release his returns if he ran for president.
Why the hesitancy now? Mainers and the American people deserve to know what he’s hiding.
Hillary Clinton released her 2015 personal tax return last week, in keeping with her tradition of making her tax returns public since 1977. Tim Kaine released 10 years of his returns.
Between what we know about Trump’s tax proposals and what we don’t know about his own tax returns, it’s clear that Trump is not the leader Maine needs.
Mainers deserve an economy that ensures everyone gets a fair shot. An economy built on the foundation of good paying jobs, fair and transparent taxes, and growth and innovation.
Clinton’s plan will make the wealthy, Wall Street and multinational corporations pay their fair share in taxes. Her plan also calls for the largest investment in job creation since World War II and making college debt-free for anyone who wants to attend.
The same former John McCain advisor who said Trump’s plans would cost 3.4 million jobs and lead to a recession found that under Clinton’s plans, the economy would add 10.4 million jobs in her first term — based on those estimates Maine could see 43,000 new jobs under her administration.
Clinton is by far the better choice to support a fair economy in Maine and across our country.
Sen. Nate Libby of Lewiston and Adam Goode, Democratic state representative of Bangor, serve on the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation.