Taxes and Budget Opinion: Show us the money wealthy corporations owe Maine From individuals to families, small towns to cities, and local businesses to corporations, everyone benefits from the things only revenue from tax dollars can buy, like roads, […] Portland Press Herald Posted March 1, 2024 Tags Corporate Power, Revenue, Tax Breaks, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Maine’s Economy Letter: Needed bill reins in big business Unfairly monopolizing industries is already illegal under federal and Maine law. But monopolization can be exceedingly hard to prove, especially under modern, pro-bigness court precedents. L.D. 1815 injects much […] Portland Press Herald Posted January 20, 2024 Tags Consumer Protection, Corporate Power, Economic Security
Jobs and Income Maine’s minimum wage gets a lift – and so does Portland’s According to the Maine Center for Economic Policy, there were about 68,000 hourly workers in the state earning less than $14.15 and an additional 59,000 employees earning […] Portland Press Herald Posted January 1, 2024 Tags Minimum Wage, Wages
Taxes and Budget Sea Dogs look for state help in financing upgrades to Hadlock Field The prospect of using state money to help finance improvements at Hadlock Field already has met with opposition. Maura Pillsbury, a state and local tax policy analyst […] Portland Press Herald Posted December 13, 2023 Tags Budget, Tax Breaks, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Maine’s Economy, Taxes and Budget Maine expects $265 million budget surplus over 2 years MECEP Policy Director Sarah Austin called for additional investments in housing and wages for teachers, child care providers and direct care workers. “Maine has the resources to […] Portland Press Herald Posted November 28, 2023 Tags Budget, Child Care, Housing, Revenue
Taxes and Budget Rollout of pandemic food benefit cards to schoolchildren confuses many Mainers But James Myall, a policy analyst for the left-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy, said while it’s true that in some cases people are getting the money […] Portland Press Herald Posted October 4, 2023 Tags Budget, Children
Jobs and Income, Maine’s Economy Our View: The child poverty rate doubled because we let it “Research has shown that the child tax credit, every dollar we spend on it, generates an estimated $8 in benefits to society in the form of better […] Portland Press Herald Posted September 15, 2023 Tags Children, Poverty
Jobs and Income Commentary: With Maine governor’s veto, farmworkers were again denied their basic economic rights This session’s bill represented a small step toward justice for those who do the back-breaking work that fuels our agricultural sector and feeds our state. These workers […] Portland Press Herald Posted August 15, 2023 Tags Economic Security, Fair Scheduling, Job Quality, Jobs, Minimum Wage, Wages
Jobs and Income, Taxes and Budget A new program gives low-income Maine mothers monthly cash. Will it help lift them out of poverty? Nationally, basic and guaranteed income programs have been found to have many benefits related to financial and economic security, though there are also challenges, particularly around funding, said […] Portland Press Herald Posted August 1, 2023 Tags Incomes
Jobs and Income Legislature sustains Mills’ veto of farmworker minimum wage bill Several of the bill’s supporters, including the Maine Center for Economic Policy and the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, highlighted that this was Mills’ second veto of legislation […] Portland Press Herald Posted July 25, 2023 Tags Job Quality, Jobs, Minimum Wage, Racial Equity