In their own words: Harrington and Kidder compete in Maine House District 19

After the Great Recession of 2008, some states cut their budgets and taxes while other states raised taxes on their wealthiest people and most profitable large corporations. The states (like Maine) who slashed their budgets and cut taxes saw a much slower recovery than states who continued their investment in their schools, public sector jobs and services and raised revenue by increasing taxes on the highest incomes and greatest ability to pay.

I agree with the Maine Center for Economic Policy in their report, Mainers suffering from this pandemic can’t afford to go without services, we have already cut services to a critical point. The middle class can’t afford to pay any more than they do already, so that leaves one more group. The extremely wealthy have enjoyed a large tax cut for a while and now the state needs them to give it back and invest in the state they call home. We also need to look at possible new state wide revenue sources such as the tax on legal recreational marijuana sales and what other states have done that works to create new revenue streams.

Click here to read the full story, first published October 16, 2020, in Seacoast Online.