Maine Voices: Democrats in Augusta shouldn’t let fear stop them from pursuing tax justice

When my wife and I married, and the first tax returns came back from our accountant, I found that my effective tax rate was slashed almost in half compared to the payroll checks I’d received as a laborer. This confirmed what I had suspected for years: Our representatives prioritize their wealthiest donors, and as a result, our tax code is disturbingly unjust.

And it’s become even worse. This was before a series of then-Gov. Paul LePage’s tax cuts for the wealthy, which alone will result in a budget shortfall of $864 million over the next two years, according to the Maine Center for Economic Policy. Because the wealthy, by definition, can already afford to live whatever lifestyle they choose, my educated guess is that most of that money is sitting in bank accounts. The wealthy, myself included, don’t need any more tax cuts, and we don’t need to keep the cuts we benefit from already.

Click here to read the full op-ed, first published on June 11, 2019, in the Portland Press Herald.