AUGUSTA, Maine — Republican gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Bush rolled out his tax plan Wednesday morning at a press conference in Augusta, drawing a sharp contrast with Gov. Janet Mills and the Democratic field he says is pushing Maine even deeper into a high-tax, anti-growth hole.
Bush framed his proposal as a direct rebuke of what he described as the tax-and-spend direction of Democratic leadership in Maine.
“Janet Mills is so addicted to raising taxes, she just raised another one in the last week, and she couldn’t be more wrong,” Bush said. “We already have among the least competitive tax rates in the country. I’m going to do the complete opposite: achieve lasting property and income tax relief for Mainers. Our tax burden is out of control, and it’ll take an outsider CEO to reverse this curse.”
Bush’s plan focuses on cutting both income taxes and property taxes.
He said he would immediately cut $1 billion in income taxes, which he said would deliver an average tax cut of roughly $2,000 for a Maine family.
On property taxes, Bush said relief starts with changing the business climate in Maine. He argued that under Mills’ governorship, Maine is losing businesses to other states, driving away economic growth and making it harder to ease the burden on homeowners. Bush said rebuilding the economy and attracting more businesses would mean more commercial taxpayers helping carry the local tax load, providing real property tax relief for Maine homeowners.
Bush also pointed to his own record in Belfast, saying he brought more than 900 jobs to the city. He said his company, athenahealth Inc, contributed roughly $320,000 annually in local property taxes, helping to ease Belfast’s property tax burden.
Bush’s rollout also came with a broader indictment of Maine’s current economic and tax climate.
According to the campaign, Maine has the fifth-highest tax burden in America, citing an analysis from WalletHub using data from the Tax Policy Center. The campaign also said Maine has the fifth-worst economic outlook based on an analysis from ALEC.
Bush’s campaign further argued that the Democratic field is offering more of the same. According to the campaign, all of the leading Democratic candidates for governor, Shah, Pingree, Bellows, and Jackson, have endorsed new taxes, signaling that Maine voters could face even more of the policies that Bush says have already made the state less competitive.
The campaign also said that following new taxes signed into law by Mills, Maine will now have the highest personal income tax rate in New England and the seventh highest in the country. Bush’s team argued that Maine’s top rate will now be more than 60 percent higher than the top rates in the 10 fastest-growing states in the nation, leaving Maine badly out of step with states focused on growth.
Bush pointed to North Carolina, Utah, and Indiana as examples of states that, he said, have shown it is possible to cut tax rates, grow the economy, and sustain essential state programs and services.
With Wednesday’s announcement, Bush is making clear that taxes will be a central issue in his campaign, and that he intends to make the 2026 governor’s race a referendum on whether Maine continues down the Democrats’ high-tax path or changes course.
I don’t care what this guy promises. He is a Bush Crime Family member. NO DICE. The Bohemia Grove Bushes (in syndicate with the Clintons) have done more damage to our country than can be quantified. CIA Iran-Contra drug running (and cover-up murders) through Mena, Arkansas, for starters. Then there was 9/11 and Marvin Bush’s security firm being in charge of WTC operations before the false flag attack (courtesy of CIA and Mossad).
Poppy Bush WAS in Dallas the day JFK was killed, too; photographic evidence and FBI documentation prove it. (Agent G. BUSH… who later lied and said he wasn’t even in town that day, or “couldn’t remember” where he was… when a president was shot??? Riiiight…
NO MORE BUSHES OR CLINTONS IN GOVERNMENT. EVER.
I went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, with Bush. He was an obviously unsavoury guy.
If it’s between Bush & Bobby, I’m going with Bush. I’m just sad that some that maybe better at the job, don’t have the financial backing to do it. Such wealthy donors is a major problem. Just like ‘Be Better’ said…. who we vote for is just who the billionaire backing them placed in front of us. https://youtu.be/IeRofmB5sUI?si=vrZ4REB_txnQhAkR
Free- ish-man. My dad was an alcoholic that battered and bloodied my mother. When i was 11 years old he battered her for the last time and i tried to get his hunting gun to shoot him. No bullets. I went to the neighbors and the cops came and took him away and he left town never to return. Mom had 5 boys to raise alone. And she didnt raise drunken family abusers. All of us worked and took care of our families.
You’re so intolerant your hatered has you blinded. Bush or Clintons children arent redponcible for things parents may have or have not been involved in.
We all decide what we will become no matter our family name. What about you?
No more behind the Bushes for Maine.
Notice that he’s not addressing one of the major problems causing higher taxes. Healthcare fraud. I wonder why? Answer that question,, Mr. Belfast Healthcare man.
Left / Right paradigm.
Ed Stubbs: Sorry about your situation… and I appreciate your ability to forgive. But you are naive about the Bush Klan. Just because you don’t know history and how the Bush Crime family has shaped the corrupt deep state doesn’t mean you get to accuse me of being “intolerant” or having blind hatred. I am a patriot and have studied these murdering, profiteering crime families for over 20 years.