Coalition pushes for rollback of LePage-era tax cuts

Dubbing itself “the Prosperity Coalition,” the group includes the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a state employee union, immigrant rights groups, clergy and advocates for several causes. It held a news conference at the State House on Thursday and called on lawmakers to “un-rig” the state’s tax code and increase taxes on the state’s wealthiest earners.

“Over the last decade Gov. LePage advanced lopsided tax cuts that made it harder for our state to invest in people and communities,” said Garrett Martin, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank that advocates for progressive tax policies.

Martin said LePage-era tax cuts cost the state about $864 million, money needed to meet the state’s obligation to fund public schools and share tax revenue with municipalities.

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Martin said rates of childhood hunger and poverty have increased in Maine while declining in other states in the Northeast. He said the Legislature is now in a position to reverse those trends by shifting course on tax policy.

Click here to read the full story, first published on May 9, 2019, in the Portland Press Herald.