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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 9 No. 1 |
February 2005 |
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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 9 No. 1 |
February 2005 |
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MAIN Palesky Tax Cap Defeated;
Legislature passes Tax Reform - But is it over?Like many states, Maine has faced referendum efforts by people who would like to severely shrink the help that government can provide its citizens. Unlike other states, however, Maine people defeated the most harmful of these referendums, the Palesky Tax Cap. It would have capped property taxes and made huge cuts in critical municipal services. The state would have been forced to pick up some of these costs. In order for the State to do this, they would have had to cut other programs, like Medicaid. The defeat of Palesky sends the message that Maine people care about the services government provides.
MAIN members can be proud of their work to help defeat the Palesky referendum. Throughout the fall, members like Russ Anderson from Waldoboro and Laura Moore from Orono worked hard going door-to-door in their communities to encourage people to vote.
Russ and Laura knew that many low-income families and others needed property tax relief, but they also knew that the Palesky bill was not the way to do it. They knew that drastic cuts in essential services would take place if the tax cap passed. They knew that these cuts would be most harmful to the people that they cared about.
Nearly two thirds of Maine people voted to defeat the Palesky tax cap-a margin that no one would have imagined just two months before the election. Thanks to Russ and Laura and other MAIN members and hundreds of volunteers from dozens of other organizations for their work.This vote showed that Maine people want tax relief, but not at any cost. In a very real way, it showed that Maine people value the vital services that they receive and those that help their neighbors-and are committed to preserving them!
The Tax Cap defeat
says that Maine people care about the services government provides.
While November's election results tell us a lot about the priorities of Maine voters, the message was also clear that something needed to be done about property taxes. Even as the Palesky referendum was being defeated, another group was collecting signatures to place another tax cap proposal on the ballot. This one was modeled after one in Colorado (the “Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or “TABOR”) that has significantly hurt that state's ability to provide vital services to its residents. Luckily, the group did not raise enough signatures to place the proposal on the ballot this year, but we should be prepared to see it again in future years.
In response to all of this, Governor Baldacci introduced the first bill of the year (LD 1) as soon as the Legislature started up again in December to begin to tackle the problem.
The Governor's bill included:
- A plan to implement the results of an earlier referendum in June by increasing the State's share of spending for Kindergarten through grade 12 education to 55% over the next four years;
- Spending limits for all levels of government; and
- Increased benefits under the “circuit-breaker” program and changes that made more people eligible for it.
Now that LD 1 has passed, it remains to be seen whether those that seek to severely limit government services with referendums like TABOR will come back in 2006, or give up trying to push a plan that makes more radical cuts to essential services for Maine people.
