Summary
The public has annually and correctly blamed the Legislature for failing to agree on anything like comprehensive tax reform, and newspapers for the last couple of weeks were suggesting the Taxation Committee would have nothing to offer when the session ends. This week, on a 7-6 nearly party-line vote, the committee approved a major package that affects property, sales and income taxes in important ways. Some of its details are objectionable, but its overall message is important: Lawmakers can put together a major tax- reform plan that strengthens the current system.
Committee chairmen, Sen. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, and Rep. Richard Woodbury, u-Yarmouth, deserve credit for performing what so many lawmakers before had failed to perform. Their plan brings Maine's income taxes more into line with federal taxes, increasing the standard deduction and personal exemption, while reducing the top rate of 8.5 percent to 7.9 percent. It increases the circuit breaker program to reduce property taxes for those who qualify and fully funds the Homestead Exemption to cut property taxes for everyone.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Shot at Tax Reform
To pay for these cuts, it increases the meals and lodging tax, the tax on car rentals, beer, wine and soda and real...
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