Taxes and Budget Testimony on L.D. 1816, the $99 million bond package pending before the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs In this time of economic uncertainty and difficulty, individuals and families tend to spend less and, if possible, save more. In the aggregate, this withdrawal from the […] MECEP Posted March 29, 2010 Tags Appropriations Committee, Bonds, Budget
Jobs and Income MECEP Analysis - Minimum Wage History in Maine versus Indexing View a chart depicting the history of the minimum wage in Maine and what would have happened historically if the state’s minimum wage had been indexed to […] MECEP Posted February 23, 2010 Tags Incomes, Job Quality, Minimum Wage
Jobs and Income Testimony on LD 192 - An Act to Index the State Minimum Wage to Inflation This bill will put more money in the pockets of working Mainers and, by doing so, ultimately supports greater economic activity and prosperity for all. Maine workers […] MECEP Posted February 18, 2010 Tags Incomes, Job Quality, Minimum Wage
Maine’s Economy Testimony Regarding LD 1690 An Act to Prevent Predatory Signature Gathering and Ensure a Clean Citizen and People’s Veto Process Democracy functions best when there is transparency and accountability. Minimizing fraud and the influence of special interests are important goals of any democratic system of government, especially […] MECEP Posted February 8, 2010 Tags Economy
Taxes and Budget Testimony Regarding LD 1694 (Transparency and Accountability for Tax Breaks) As this Committee is too intimately aware, the state of Maine’s economy is bleak. Unemployment is high and revenues are not stable. At least one to two […] MECEP Posted February 2, 2010 Tags Tax Breaks, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Taxes and Budget Fact Sheet: Tax Reform in Brief In June 2009, Maine’s legislators and Governor Baldacci enacted a historic tax reform package, LD 1495. A citizen’s initiative to repeal this landmark legislation will be voted […] MECEP Posted January 28, 2010 Tags Tax Fairness, Taxes
Health Care Testimony Regarding LD 1665 (Paid Sick Leave): An Act to Prevent the Spread of H1N1 In periods of economic uncertainty, it is vitally important that we do all we can to preserve the economic security and economic opportunities for Maine workers. Unfortunately, […] MECEP Posted January 14, 2010 Tags Health Care, Paid Sick Days
Health Care Testimony Regarding LD 1005 and Regarding LD 1264 (Dirigo Health Funding): An Act to Continue Access to Dirigo Choice Health Insurance by Reducing Administrative Costs and Replacing the Savings Offset Payment and An Act To Stabilize Funding and Enable DirigoChoice to Reach More Uninsured From the beginning, the most contentious issue related to the Dirigo Health Reforms was how to fund them. Experience with the Savings Offset Payment and the many […] MECEP Posted April 14, 2009 Tags Health Care
Taxes and Budget Testimony Regarding LD 1088 (Tax Reform): An Act to Modernize the Tax Laws and Provide over $75,000,000 to Residents of the State in Tax Relief The bill before you represents the best opportunity for successful tax reform I have seen in over thirty years of observing and taking part in discussions of […] MECEP Posted April 2, 2009 Tags Revenue, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Health Care Survey Finds Maine Small Businesses Shifted Health Care Costs to Employees in Recent Years (Augusta, ME) The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) released today the findings from a 2004 survey of Maine small businesses, co-authored by Lisa Pohlmann and Frank […] Posted July 13, 2005 Tags Health Care, Job Quality