This week’s edition!
Columns
It’s time to end Maine’s income tax
By Lance Dutson, CEO
Maine Heritage Policy Center
Imagine if the State of Maine wrote you a check for $4,000.
Every year.
That’s essentially what would happen if we eliminated Maine’s personal income tax. The average family of four would save nearly $4,000.
Think it’s impossible? Think again.
The personal income tax is a leash that pro-government forces have tied around the necks of Mainers for more than 30 years. Maine used to have a thriving economy and booming industries, but we all know that’s history.
The startling truth is that the decline of Maine’s economy started at nearly the exact time the state decided to implement the income tax. And it’s wreaked havoc on families and businesses ever since.
Maine consistently ranks among the worst states in the nation for business climate, and we have one of the highest tax burdens in the country. The income tax plays a major roll in this dynamic. Maine is well known as a big-government state that will squeeze every nickel out of its citizens, even to the detriment of the overall economy.
We can take a huge step toward ending this dynamic by eliminating the income tax.
Enough is Enough: Time to tackle welfare reform head on
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
Over the past two weeks, in the spirit of transparent government, I have kept readers informed of my comings and goings in a sharply focused Mayors’ Coalition and the Halls of Confusion known as the Maine State House.
I owe my readers an apology. I was so wrapped up in the welfare issue that I incorrectly referred to it as “welfare reform.” The truth is that it was nothing more than a combination of a cost shift and enforcement of the rules governing TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families.)
To a person with average intelligence, the rules governing TANF are understandably simple. The program runs for up to five years, during which the participant is expected to participate in job training and academics, allowing them to obtain employment and become self-sufficient.
Seems simple, right? Apparently not, if you’re a boo-hoo progressive legislator whose definition of temporary equals infinity.
Op/Ed: Republicans will address general assistance shortfall in May
By Senator Mike Thibodeau
and Senator Ron Collins
Just last week, Governor LePage deployed a previously unused provision in Maine law: the line-item veto. Passed during the King administration and supported by voters in a statewide referendum, the line-item veto can be used by governors to object to portions of a budget without vetoing the entire document.
The two items Governor LePage chose to veto were: a portion of the additional funds needed to cover a projected shortfall in the FY 2013 General Assistance allocation; and $3 million in “disproportionate share” funding to hospitals and psychiatric facilities in order to offset losses in federal funding.
If the Legislature were in session, we would take up a governor’s veto within the prescribed time limit of five days. However, the Legislature is adjourned until May 15. That’s when we will return to finalize work on the FY 2013 supplemental budget.
Griffiths on “going forward.” What else can we do?
By Dave Griffiths
TCT Columnist
Hello again. Today’s topics: mindless disrespect for our mother tongue; a VA that’s come a long way; and American entrepreneurial spirit at its best (if a bit “adult”).
“Circle back when you find the bandwidth in your schedule, and we’ll discuss the synergies that can leverage our shovel-ready plan, because at the end of the day, it’s all about drilling down and creating robust solutions that achieve time-sensitive, client-oriented, transparent results, taking us to the next level.”
Then and only then, may I add, will we be well positioned for—wait for it—“going forward.”
Enough is Enough: The greatest obstacle preventing welfare reform
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
What is the greatest obstacle preventing meaningful welfare reform in Maine? The Courts? Fraud? Groups with so many letters in their names that they dwarf the alphabet? The answer: none of the above.
No, it’s a word which when used in the Halls of the State House enjoys the reverence that would be given to prose coming from the Burning Bush. A word used to invalidate testimony from anyone who dares speak negatively against or question the current welfare system. The word is “anecdotal.”We’ll get back to that.
Two weeks ago I spent the better part of two weeks in the Halls of Confusion, better known as The State House. During this time, it became apparent why Maine is a welfare destination. It also provided the answer as to why Governor Paul LePage and the taxpayers of Maine are so frustrated by the system.
Enough is Enough: Welfare reform could create cost shift to L-A
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
During my run for Mayor of Lewiston, I was correctly cast as a clone of Governor Paul LePage. We both have tempers. We speak often in the vernacular of the street (talk like common people).
We do what we feel is the right thing. We do not worry about re-election. We both shrug off criticism. However, we now find ourselves on opposite sides over the current effort to reform welfare.
Who is right? Well, from where we both sit, he as Governor and I as Mayor of Lewiston, we are both right. The Governor is taking on an entrenched, runaway welfare system in which taxpayers’ money is hemorrhaging and being sopped up by undeserving individuals and their enabling advocates—this to the detriment of the truly deserving.
Being a good steward, he and his staff introduced legislation to address the problem.
It is this legislation that presents a major, as-yet-undetermined financial problem to Lewiston, Auburn and several other service centers throughout Maine. This legislation would increase the local taxes in service communities while cutting state taxes.
Enough is Enough: Ability to achieve success is limited only by your ambition
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
Wilhelm Heinrich Florus Graf von Schwerin. A name little known to most scholars of the American Revolution.
His importance comes from 10 letters he wrote his uncle between August 1, 1780 and December 20, 1781.
Von Schwerin, a German aristocrat and professional military man, served as a German sous-Lieutenant in the French Army under Comte De Rochambeau. He is important to history because his letters provide an eyewitness account of the taking of Redoubts Nine and Ten during the Battle of Yorktown, leading to the surrender of Lieutenant General Charles Lord Cornwallis and his British Army.
It is a great lesson for those who are military buffs, but has little relevance to this column.
Enough is Enough: 37 years since the Vietnam War ended
By Robert E. Macdonald
Mayor of Lewiston
It marks a time in our nation’s history when social disorder became a daily occurrence. Family against family, neighbor against neighbor.
A time when scared boys became brave men only to be condemned by cowards trying to salvage their manhood in the eyes of the public. A time when answering your country’s call to serve brought on public condemnation.
Monday, April 30 marks the official end of the Vietnam War. Thirty-seven years have passed, and times have changed. Those once branded as “baby killers”, those once spat upon and pelted with bags of chicken blood, those who upon returning home were forced to hide their service in Vietnam in order to resume a normal life—they are now looked upon as heroes. Many who once condemned them, especially those with political ambitions, now wish they had served.
Op/Ed: Setting the Record Straight about L/A Arts
By Odelle Bowman
Executive Director
L/A Arts
Last week, Auburn Mayor Jonathan P. LaBonté wrote a piece in his “Thoughts From the Mayor” section that requires a little clarification about L/A Arts and our impact on the Cities of Lewiston and Auburn.
Unfortunately, Mayor LaBonté did not wait for the due date for responses from the City Council on March 14 at 3 p.m. before writing his remarks, and therefore much misinformation has been presented.
There are many organizations providing arts programming, but none that offer the diversity of initiatives meant to support the arts and the community across a wide array of disciplines as L/A Arts; such is the role of an arts agency. Additionally, we lend support and are strong collaborative partners to many arts and cultural organizations in the community and have done so for 38 years.
Mayor LaBonté suggested that L/A Arts is not the designated arts agency for both the Cities of Lewiston and Auburn. When the Joint Agency Budget Review Committee asked for documentation supporting this designation, I provided documentation from The National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support material from The Maine Arts Commission.
Perspective: Cost of Obamacare much higher than promised
By Rep. Rich Cebra
(r-naples)
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree has some explaining to do.
On March 14, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that the cost of the so-called Obamacare initiative has doubled. Two years ago, when the Affordable Care Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a razor thin margin—with no Republican votes—we were told that the 10-year cost of the plan would be $940 billion.
Democrats turned cartwheels around the Capitol because the grand total came in under $1 trillion. President Obama said if the cost had been higher, he would not have signed the bill.
It is now clear that the Democrats deliberately used phony numbers to drag this monstrosity across the line. The non-partisan CBO was told to “score” the 10-year cost from 2011 to 2020. But Obamacare does not start until 2014, so the CBO’s projection actually accounted for just six years of cost.
Now we’re told that Obamacare will cost $1.76 trillion from 2013 to 2022, the first nine years. Most likely the total from 2014 to 2023 will exceed $2 trillion, considering that the 2022 cost is now pegged at $265 billion.
