Author: Luke Wachob

On Tuesday, Mainers will head to the polls to decide whether their state government should raise taxes so more money can be doled out to politicians running for office. With Maine’s unemployment rate already at 4.4%, nearly a full percentage point higher than in neighboring New Hampshire (3.4%), raising taxes could chase even more jobs out of state. And to what end? Proponents of the measure argue that recent court decisions spurred changes to state campaign finance law that have left Maine’s tax-financed campaign program sorely lacking, but their story has one big problem: It suggests that the program initially…