Issue Position: On Tax Reform

Issue Position

I was one of the "Gang 11" -- five Republicans, five Democrats, and one Independent who proposed a major tax reform overhaul for Maine two years ago. Although that effort did not succeed, I intend to revisit fundamental reform if I am re-elected.

The issue is not whether we increase or decrease spending, the issue is how we raise the money to fund our priorities. Our current system is archaic and was created for a 20th century manufacturing economy. We no longer have that economy. Yet the tax structure remains, causing a drag on economic activity here in our state. Our marginal income tax rate is one of the highest in the country, creating a disincentive for capital investment here. We need to change that. We also have one of the narrowest sales taxes in the state of Maine -- we tax far fewer products and services than most other states. Given the fact that we have so many out of state visitors and people who live here only part of the year, we therefore, lose out on an opportunity to shift some of our tax burden to non-residents. By doing so, we could lower the burden on our own citizens and actually help lower local property taxes, the most regressive tax of all.

To many experts, a sensible tax structure is like a three-legged stool -- approximately one-third property taxes, one-third income taxes, and one-third sales taxes. Currently, that stool is falling over with property taxes accounting for close to half of our total tax revenue. We can, we should and we must change this.

Source