How many times have we heard it? “Tax breaks don’t create jobs, because corporations don’t pay their fair share.” Well, if the proof is in the pudding, then liberals must be eating some really sour Jell-O this morning. After a bombshell report just hit the news cycle surrounding the surge in tax receipts (totaling a whopping $200 million) attributed largely to economic development spurred by sound fiscal policy, liberals are strangely silent on the subject of higher taxes.
The cause and effect relationship here isn’t that hard to comprehend, and the effect is clear: since Governor Paul LePage has taken office, unemployment has entered a free fall.
The cause? First, the state gives targeted tax breaks to spur economic development. With lower taxes, businesses have more liquidity and room to hire additional staff. The increased hiring inevitably leads to lower-than-projected unemployment, which in turn leads to higher-than-projected income tax receipts and a boon to sales tax receipts from the increase in disposable household income.
That’s right, folks. Mainers now have more money in their pockets, and who ever would’ve thought that they’d actually go spend that money at local businesses and boost the economy? Preposterous, no?
Almost every economic indicator of prosperity is up. New car sales have sky-rocketed. Prospective business-owners have more confidence that the state values their addition to the economy. Maine’s graduation rates continue to increase, and remain above the national average. Home sales are up by over 10%. Every county in the state, save two, have seen increases in homes sold. And the value of those homes? Yea, those are increasing as well.
If nothing else, remember this during the election this year; sound fiscal policy not only saved Maine families a boatload of money, it also saved the State of Maine.