Maine Is Flush With Cash. So Why Won’t Augusta Cut Your Taxes?

By Owen McCarthy

I grew up in a trailer in Patten, the son of a logger and a lunch lady. My parents worked hard, stretched every dollar, and taught me that you never spend money you do not have. That simple rule works for every household and every small business in Maine.

It is a rule that seems foreign to the politicians in Augusta.

A recent Maine Wire article showed that state revenues are projected to surge again, fueled by the tax and fee increases pushed through by Governor Janet Mills and the Democratic majority. Now they are already making excuses for why they cannot loosen their grip on your pocketbooks despite state coffers overflowing with your money.

For seven years, the people in power have treated Maine’s taxpayers like a bottomless ATM. When revenues grow, they spend it. When revenues fall, they raise taxes and spend even more. When the pandemic hit, we went into spending overdrive and when it ended, the emergency-level spending never stopped. We are now spending roughly $3 billion more than inflation in the state budget.

The result is a cost-of-living crisis touching every corner of our state. From the price of heating your home to local property tax bills and grocery costs, the pressure keeps building while Augusta insists the system is working and would only work better if you would fork over just a little more.

Maine families are facing an affordability crisis driven by high taxes, runaway spending, and regulations that raise the cost of everything from housing to energy. Mainers carry the third-highest property tax burden in the country, yet student test scores continue to fall. Businesses face an uncompetitive tax climate. Energy costs rose 36.3 percent this past year, the highest in the nation and nearly twice the second-highest. Families and employers are paying more and getting less.

I come from a part of Maine where people believe in common sense. Folks in Patten do not ask for much. They want the chance to earn a good living and raise their families. What they cannot understand is why a state government flush with cash refuses to return even a portion of that money back to the people who earned it.

The political class in Augusta sees a growing revenue forecast as a license to grow spending. Working people see it as proof they are being overcharged.

If the state is taking more of your money than it needs, the answer is not to dream up new ways to spend it. The answer is to cut taxes.

But that idea never seems to cross the minds of those in charge. They cannot imagine a Maine where families keep more of what they earn or where prosperity comes from the private sector instead of another government program dreamt up in a committee room.

As someone who built a business here, I know what it takes to create jobs, make payroll, and keep the lights on. Innovation and entrepreneurship do not thrive under high taxes, endless fees, and a regulatory culture that treats job creators like suspects rather than partners.

Enough is enough.

Maine does not have a revenue problem. Maine has a leadership problem. We need a
government that respects the people who pay the bills and a budget built the way every family budget is built: with discipline, priorities, and accountability. We need leaders who understand that prosperity comes from freeing people to work, build, invent, and invest; not from thwarting them at every turn.

I believe Maine can be a place where hard work meets opportunity again. That will only happen when Augusta stops treating taxpayers like we work for them and starts trusting the people of Maine to build their own future. When I am elected governor, it will stop.

Owen McCarthy is an entrepreneur and candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Maine.