Following is a press release from The Maine Heritage Policy Center:
MHPC Praises Legislature for Eliminating Dirigo Tax Increase
MHPC Chief Executive Officer Lance Dutson today made the following statement, after the passage of the supplemental DHHS budget compromise that eliminated an originally proposed tax increase:
“Legislative leadership, along with the Governor and his staff, should be applauded for working through the difficult process of getting bipartisan support for this budget. Achieving enough consensus for a two-thirds majority is a challenging exercise in the best of circumstances, and especially so during these difficult economic times.”
“The original budget proposal from the Appropriations Committee contained a $5 million tax increase as a way to help fill the budget gap. The Maine Heritage Policy Center fought this proposal from the beginning and made it clear that a tax increase on hard-working Mainers is unacceptable.”
“Fortunately, our protests were heard by conservative members and leaders in the legislature. House Speaker Nutting, Senate President Raye and other conservative members of the legislature took a bold stand against this measure, and showed that their leadership tenure would not simply continue the tax-and-spend patterns of previous legislatures. Legislative leaders worked to eliminate the tax increase, even while liberals in the Senate tried to stall this budget for political gain. Thankfully, those efforts failed.”
“Governor LePage introduced this budget because Maine was running out of money to meet our obligations. He stood strongly for common-sense changes that would keep our state in business, not just for today, but for the long run. There will be much more discussion about the construct of our social services system as further budget battles loom in the coming weeks, but for now, the people of Maine should be proud of our Governor and our legislative leadership for staring another liberal tax hike down.”