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AUGUSTA, Maine – The Maine Center for Economic Policy on Wednesday published a six-page policy brief on the LePage Tax Bill.
The analysis, spearheaded by MECEP Policy Analyst Sarah Austin, reveals the winners and losers of Gov. Paul LePage’s latest effort to overhaul Maine’s tax code, as well as the true cost of the proposed tax breaks.
The LePage Tax Bill “would deliver tax cuts to filers who don’t need them and who are already reaping significant benefits from recent federal tax changes,” writes Austin. “Perhaps more importantly, the governor’s proposal would significantly deplete available public resources, jeopardizing the state’s ability to meet critical needs in education, health care, infrastructure, and other priorities identified by legislators and Maine voters.”
Revelations in the policy brief include:
- The LePage Tax Bill opens the door for some profitable businesses to avoid paying income taxes altogether.
- The proposed estate tax cut would balloon exemptions for multimillionaire heirs to more than 11 times their value in 2011.
- Changes to bonus depreciation would reward profitable corporations with an $18 million tax break for capital investments made outside the state of Maine.
- Changes to individual income taxes will reward the top 1 percent with an average tax break of $557, compared with just $1 for the bottom one-fifth of Maine households.
To read the full report, click here.
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