“Education, health care, public safety, and other basic services are at-risk during the upcoming budget process,” said MECEP Executive Director Garrett Martin. “They don’t have to be. Recognizing the sources of our current budget shortfall and taking the necessary steps to ameliorate them are essential to building a strong healthy economy that ensures shared prosperity for all Maine people.”
“In the short term, lawmakers must focus on rebuilding a middle class hit hard by three decades of tepid income growth culminating in a severe recession,” the MECEP policy brief states. “They need to invest in the foundations of strong, enduring economy: workers, technology, research and development, roads and bridges, and schools. To do this, lawmakers must overhaul Maine’s outdated tax system by ensuring that everyone pays their fair share, rebuilding the tax base to match the 21st century economy, closing costly loopholes, and ending ineffective tax subsidies.”
The new policy brief is available on MECEP’s website (click here).
