There is no polite way to say this: Democrat income tax increases, which the Maine’s legislature passed in the eleventh hour of its “emergency session,” reflect fiscal madness, an endless upward spiral in state spending, being chased by an endless upward spiral in state taxes and state mandates on towns and countries, triggering an upward spiral in property taxes, and statewide pressure on housing for seniors and Mainers under 40.
FIVE FACTS say it all – for Maine and Blue States. Stay with me.
FACT ONE: What happened just now? To pay for unconstrained spending – spending on what no one wants and no one can afford, Democrats cursed our already high tax-and-spend state with higher income taxes, pushing businesses and families to leave.
The Democrat bill, LD229, did two unintelligible, indefensible, just profoundly stupid things. It raised individual income taxes on Mainers struggling to afford everything, from homes to heat, and raised corporate income taxes to ten percent.
Details matter. Despite already high taxes, Democrats dubbed those earning over $61,600 “rich,” then added two new tax brackets. Taxed at 7.15 percent, farmers, lobstermen, teachers, construction, and retail workers will now be taxed at 7.75 to 8.95 percent.
Making matters far worse, Democrats – who seem to hate the private sector employers who create Maine’s jobs – raised corporate income taxes to 10 percent for companies with revenue over $3.5 million, which covers at least the top 40 Maine companies.
FACT TWO: Who will be affected? Everyone. Until Maine gets a Republican governor and legislature, we are in an accelerating tailspin. On individual income taxes, 58,000 Mainers make $60,000 to $74,999, 77,000 make under $99,999, and 206,000 over $100,000. That tallies to 341,000 “rich” Mainers, all of whom can expect higher taxes.
Maine’s entire labor force is 687,000 citizens, still below pre-pandemic levels, as incentives to start a business fall. So, for starters, 50 percent of our State faces higher income taxes. But zero in on that corporate tax hike. That hits Maine’s top 40, which currently employ almost 100,000 – their easiest to cut cost, labor.
Who are the employers?
In rank order, MaineHealth (employing roughly 22,500), Hannaford (9,500), Walmart (8,500), Bath Iron Works (6,500), Maine General Health (5,000), LL Bean (4,500), Eastern Maine Medical (4,000), Central Maine Health (3,000), TD Bank (2,500), Shaws (2,500), Unum (2,500), RTX (2,500), Jackson Labs (2,000), UPS Solutions (2,000), Mercy Hospital (2,000), Optum (2,000), Home Depot (1,500), Lowes (1,500), St Joseph’s Hospital (1,500), SD Warren (1,500), Target (1,500), RC Management (1,500), CMP (1,500), Attendant Services (1,500), Bangor Savings (1,500), St, Mary’s Medical (1,500).
Another 20 companies with 1000 employees round out the top 50.
Together, these employers provide a third of all Maine employment. Now, for reasons with no defense, except to fund more excess, inapt, useless spending, they are being slapped down.
One more fact. 99 percent of Maine employers are “small businesses,” many are “pass-throughs,” so taxes are paid as individuals. Count them “rich,” since over they make over $61,600 annually. Those companies will either be hit with the highest personal bracket or the corporate bracket.
Bottom line: These immoral taxes affect most Mainers. Those not paying directly, as the laid off will pay indirectly, are still paying more for everything.
FACT THREE: In a state with an acute “affordability crisis,” Democrats just made life harder. This is a formula for radiating or cascading hardship, forfeiture of homes, people leaving the state, poverty, increased crime, all producing more costs to the taxpayer, nothing short a vicious cycle, with more ahead.
There are obvious “second-order effects.” Businesses do leave. Already, they are leaving in record numbers, with taxpayers and kids, which adds to local misery, means fewer jobs, less income, less investment, fewer in schools, and a downward spiral.
As a gubernatorial candidate, I talk to a dozen businesses a day. One in three says that if I do not turn this around, they are gone. One in ten answers with “Hi, thanks for calling, but I moved to Florida,” or “Tennessee,” or anywhere taxes are lower.
Key: As Democrats suck the oxygen out of Maine’s business climate, push the downward spiral, it gets harder to pull out, just like when flying. Predatory criminals move in, preying on youth and seniors, pushing drug use (escapism) and capitalizing on fear. That state of affairs is indicative of failed leadership, in the legislature, in the governor, in all those following them.
Maine’s Democrat leaders and their ideology have created a nightmare. They are quadrupling down, uncaring, unsustainable.
FACT FOUR: Maine does not need – never has needed – more taxes, just less spending. Maine has a tax crisis driven by one of the worst state governments in the nation, spendthrift, and ideologically obsessed. It would be comic – if it were not genuinely tragic.
Maine had a $6.8 billion budget seven years ago, but an anti-Trump governor this year submitted an $11.7 billion budget, filled with programs for 8,000 illegal aliens, subsidies for wind and solar, new taxes on prescription drugs, paint cans, cigarettes, hunting, and fishing. That is the operational definition of madness. Yet where is the Democrat – or Independent – who stands and says “Wait!”… Nowhere.
FACT FIVE: If a manual existed for how to “take down” a state, ruin it from within, drive individuals out and businesses under, destroy the education system (which is rated 50 of 50 now, an immoral abdication of duty to the next generation), kill incentives for young people, welcome drug traffickers an illegals – Democrats are following it.
Bottom line: This double income tax hike by Democrats is anti-Maine, anti-American, and should be intolerable, should be rejected. We cannot stay on this path; it is a widening nightmare. I am running for Governor to end the madness. We will deeply cut income and property taxes, throw out drug traffickers, rebuild the schools. If you are done with madness, join me – for a return to basic sanity.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is running to be Maine’s next governor. See BobbyforMaine.com
