FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 26, 2018
CONTACT:
Mario Moretto, Communications Director
mario@mecep.org
(207) 620-1101
AUGUSTA, Maine — Revenue to the state’s General Fund will exceed original estimates by about $99 million through the end of the current fiscal year and $263 million in the upcoming biennium, according to a preliminary December forecast announced by the state Revenue Forecasting Committee at its meeting today at the State House.
The revised forecast for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, represents an increase of 2.2 percent over previous forecasts. The revised forecast for the upcoming biennium, which runs from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2021, represents an increase of 3.5 percent over previous forecasts.
MECEP Executive Director Garrett Martin released the following statement:
“Today’s revenue forecast gives the incoming Mills administration more resources than previously forecast to fully fund the state’s obligations to public schools, Medicaid and the local services upon which Maine families and businesses rely.
“Still this anticipated increase in revenue is not sufficient to fulfill those commitments in their entirety or to address other important priorities that make our communities stronger and support future growth. Without additional revenue, the state will be hard-pressed to tackle the opioid crisis, invest in job training or build the modern infrastructure necessary to sustain a strong economy into the future.
“Additional new revenue is necessary to make up for the loss of $864 million over the coming biennium as a result of LePage administration tax cuts over the last eight years. These tax cuts primarily benefited Maine’s wealthiest households while putting Maine people and communities at the back of the line. We look forward to working with the incoming Mills administration and new legislature to address these challenges.
“While we expect Gov. LePage to urge further tax cuts when he releases his own budget proposal, as he has promised to do before he leaves office in December, it is Gov.-elect Mills and the legislators elected in November who will set the state’s priorities in the new year. Gov. LePage has had eight years to craft state budgets. It’s time for a new approach.”
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