Health Care Advocates worry that ‘fentanyl hysteria’ will further criminalize people who use drugs “By 2016, harm reduction activists noted the product on the street that was being sold as heroin had almost none,” reads A Better Path for Maine: The […] Beacon Posted February 13, 2023 Tags Health Care
Taxes and Budget ‘People are desperate:’ Budget committee encouraged to make bold investments in affordable housing “While public investment is necessary to alleviate Maine’s affordable housing crisis, $30 million is insufficient to address the shortage of affordable housing,” said Josie Phillips, a budget […] Beacon Posted February 10, 2023 Tags Budget, Housing
Taxes and Budget Economists, lawmakers caution against squandering unexpected fiscal strength on tax cuts “Is it really a surplus if we’re not paying for these really essential needs that Mainers have?” asked Maura Pillsbury, a state and local tax analyst with […] Beacon Posted February 6, 2023 Tags Budget, Revenue, Tax Breaks, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Jobs and Income Amid efforts to boost worker pay, Maine Republicans introduce 7 bills to roll back wages In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers considered at least five GOP-led efforts to undercut the minimum wage. If they had been approved, James Myall, policy analyst at […] Beacon Posted January 19, 2023 Tags Incomes, Wages
Editorial: It’s past time to stop editing MLK’s words and ideas The Bangor Daily News was the source of a national uproar on Monday when it reprinted a deeply-edited, heavily-sanitized version of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” […] Beacon Posted January 17, 2023 Tags Inequality, Racial Equity
Taxes and Budget Bills to ensure wealthy and corporations pay fair share of taxes will be a focus this session Still, some bills that simply made the tax code more balanced were successful last year, including a measure to stop large chain stores from exploiting a “dark store” tax […] Beacon Posted January 13, 2023 Tags Budget, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Taxes and Budget Mills pitches $10.3B budget plan as progressives call for stronger social safety net The budget will now be taken up by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which is under new leadership this year, and will also be negotiated by […] Beacon Posted January 11, 2023 Tags Budget
Jobs and Income Podcast: Will robots take Maine’s jobs and other insights from the author of the State of Working Maine James Myall of the Maine Center for Economic Policy joins Ben Chin to discuss the 2023 State of Working Maine report and the economic environment of the […] Beacon Posted January 8, 2023 Tags Employment, Job Quality, Jobs
Taxes and Budget Parents urge Golden, delegation to make expanded Child Tax Credit permanent Arthur Phillips, a policy analyst at Maine Center for Economic Policy, said on Monday that Maine’s full delegation should support making the expanded CTC permanent because of […] Beacon Posted December 6, 2022 Tags Child Tax Credit, Children, Federal
Taxes and Budget Mainers urge Congress to expand Child Tax Credit during lame duck session “Rising costs have coincided with rising profits for corporations, while families with low incomes struggle to keep up,” said Garrett Martin of the Maine Center for Economic […] Beacon Posted November 18, 2022 Tags Child Tax Credit, Children, Economic Security, Food Insecurity