ITEP Work in Action
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Proposed Medicaid Cuts Put Maine Families’ Incomes At Risk
February 22, 2025
Proposed Medicaid cuts could affect over 400,000 Mainers, especially children, older adults, and families with low income, reducing access to essential health care and economic stability. Read more.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Impacts of Proposed Income Tax Rate Reduction
March 30, 2023
House and Senate Republicans are demanding income tax cuts be part of the budget, and Democrats in the legislature were right to make sure they didn’t have the tools to threaten a state shutdown to get them. As the legislature prepares to pass a current services budget to avoid a stalemate in June that could […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: New Tax Relief Plan Will Disproportionately Benefit Wealthy Seniors
August 30, 2022
This year, lawmakers included a tax change in the state’s budget that will significantly expand tax benefits for pension recipients in Maine. Beginning in 2023, pension recipients will be allowed to exempt up to $25,000 in pension income from state income taxes, and that amount will increase to $35,000 for tax years 2025 and after. […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Tax Policy Options: Maine Needs Progressive Revenue Solutions to Build a Stronger, Fairer Future
January 27, 2021
Generally, the sales tax is regressive. The poorest one-fifth of families pay a share of their income in Maine sales taxes that is nearly nine times larger than the top 1 percent. Poorer households pay larger shares of their income in sales taxes than wealthy households in part because wealthier households save a larger percent […]
MECEP: NEW REPORT: Maine reaches new milestone on the road to tax fairness
September 4, 2019
Starting in 2020 and for the first time in decades, the Mainers who earn the least will no longer pay a larger share of their income to state and local taxes than those who earn the most, according to a policy brief published today by the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: To Fund Shared Prosperity, We Must End LePage-Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest
February 6, 2019
For years under Gov. Paul LePage, budget-busting tax cuts robbed our state of the revenue we need to build a stronger, fairer economy. Tax cuts delivered windfalls to the wealthiest households in our state, making it harder for our schools and communities to make ends meet. Read more
Maine Center for Economic Policy: The Prosperity Budget
January 15, 2019
Where State of Working Maine 2018 investigated the nature of work in the modern economy and made recommendations to reaffirm our values of fairness and respect in the workplace, the Prosperity Budget examines the opportunity to leverage state budget and tax policy to build a stronger economy where every Mainer has an equal opportunity to […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Maine Still Has Work to Do in Building a Balanced and Adequate Tax Code
October 17, 2018
Building an inclusive economy requires tax policy that meets two conditions. The first is that those with the most are asked to pay more, or at the very least pay as great a share of their income in taxes as everyone else. The second is that enough shared resources are raised through the tax code to invest adequately in foundations of a strong economy including good schools, access to health care, and safe and modern infrastructure.
The Free Press: Think Tank Releases Blueprint to Fully Fund Education, Medicaid & Lower Property Taxes
September 20, 2018
Tax cuts passed by the Maine Legislature and Gov. Paul LePage over the past eight years will cost the state $864 million in revenue in the next biennium, according to an analysis by the Maine Center for Economic Policy and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. At the same time the state continues to ignore its legal obligations to fully fund education, Medicaid expansion and revenue sharing.
Press Herald: Will Maine Referendum On Home Care Result In ‘Marriage Penalty’ Tax?
August 17, 2018
Aidan Davis, senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, wrote a letter to the Secretary of State’s Office on June 15 stating that the income threshold would be double for married couples filing jointly. “We found the language of the initiative to be clear in describing that individual (not household) […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Comparing the Democratic and GOP tax bills
April 17, 2018
Because of the federal tax overhaul spearheaded by President Trump and Congressional Republicans, the Maine Legislature is considering two competing proposals to change its own tax code. Lawmakers face a stark choice: Will Maine double down on the lopsided tax policy set at the federal level, which favors those at the top at the expense […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy Policy Brief: The LePage Tax Bill
March 9, 2018
On March 1, Gov. Paul LePage’s Administration presented a tax bill to the Legislature designed to mirror at the state level some of the reforms enacted by passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the federal level. The proposal is framed as simple conformity with federal law but goes much further than routine […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Maine Millionaires Primary Recipients of Proposed Trump Tax Breaks
August 17, 2017
New analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows Maine’s millionaires would get an average tax cut of $135,220 under President Trump’s proposed tax plan. Maine millionaires represent only 0.3 percent of all Maine households, yet would receive more than a quarter of all tax breaks.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Trump Tax Plan Would Give Richest Maine Taxpayers an Average $53,000 Tax Cut and Trigger Deep Cuts to Federal Dollars for Maine
July 20, 2017
A new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reveals a federal tax reform plan based on President Trump’s April outline would fail to deliver on its promise of helping middle-class taxpayers, showering three out of every five dollars of the total tax cut on the richest 1 percent nationwide. In Maine, the top 1 percent of the state’s residents would receive an average tax cut of $53,000 compared with an average tax cut of $400 for the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers in the state.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: What Happens When Those with the Most Pay the Least Taxes?
July 7, 2017
With the 3 percent surcharge repealed, the state’s tax code is out of balance. Those with the most are asked to pay the least. This means a middle-class family keeps 91 cents on average after state and local taxes for each dollar earned, versus 93 cents kept by the wealthiest in the state. This preferential tax treatment of wealthy Maine household also comes at a cost to roads, public health, and quality education that low and middle income Mainers rely on the most to succeed.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Senate Republican Vote Defies Will of Voters, Compromises Current and Future School Funding to Give Tax Cuts to Wealthy
June 13, 2017
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, repealing the citizen approved surcharge would give a $16,300 tax break on average to the top 1% of Maine households and cost the state over $300 million in school funding over current and future biennia.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: MECEP Testifies Against Bills to Cut Taxes for the Wealthy at Expense of Maine’s Schools
March 20, 2017
Augusta, Maine (Monday, March 20, 2017) State legislators on the taxation committee will hold a public hearing today on several bills that would roll back the tax to pay for education enacted under Question 2, the ballot initiative passed by Maine voters in November 2016. As a result of Question 2, the state will have the capacity to provide 55% of school funding mandated by voters previously in 2004.
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Testimony in Opposition to Governor’s Proposed Budget, Parts D, E, and F
February 17, 2017
These proposed tax changes would stand in the way of building thriving communities and a strong Maine economy. There is a direct correlation between state resources and the ability to be proactive in making the kind of investments that lay the foundations for a strong economy. Cutting taxes for the rich at the expense of everyone […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Upside-down tax plan, missed opportunity, and unnecessary and harmful cuts in the governor’s budget proposal
February 2, 2017
At a time when Maine families are falling out of the middle-class, when experienced workers need new skills to secure good paying jobs in a modern economy, and when state infrastructure is in need of improvement and expansion, the state budget presents an opportunity to solve shared problems and return our quality of life to […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy Releases Findings Related to Distributional Impacts of Governor LePage’s Budget Proposal
January 19, 2017
MECEP finds that Governor LePage’s budget proposal includes an upside down tax plan that will lead to the following outcomes: Taxes will go up on average for Maine families with income below $92,000. This represents the bottom 80% of Mainers who will see an average tax increase of approximately $85. The top 1% of […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Moving Maine Students to the Head of the Class
November 1, 2016
“This November, Maine voters will consider a ballot initiative (Question 2) that rolls back recent tax breaks for the wealthy and dedicates this revenue toward additional state level resources for schools. The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) examined the context for this initiative, its potential to promote tax fairness, and its capacity to improve […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: When Budgets Unravel: Unlimited deductions will jeopardize schools and safety When Budgets Unravel: Unlimited deductions will jeopardize schools and safety
February 29, 2016
Read the full report here “Legislators passed a bipartisan budget last year that funds schools, communities, and programs that give a hand up to those most in need. The budget also cuts income taxes for 83% of Mainers and improves the overall fairness of Maine’s tax system by reducing property taxes for all homeowners and […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: MECEP Analysis: Better Deal for Maine “Provides Bigger Tax Cuts for More Mainers”
October 21, 2015
The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) today released “Distributional Analysis: ‘Better Deal’ Provides Bigger Tax Cuts for Most Mainers while Increasing Investment in Education and Other Critical Services,” a report prepared in association with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nationally prominent non-profit, non-partisan research organization that works on federal, state, and […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Eliminating Maine’s income tax: A boon to wealthy Mainers, will hurt everyone else
October 21, 2015
Two weeks ago Governor LePage notified lawmakers of his intention to amend Maine’s constitution to eliminate the state’s income tax by 2020. This may mean the governor has thrown in the towel on his budget proposal that significantly reduces Maine’s income tax and pays for it by increasing sales and property taxes. The response to […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Republican Tax Plan Gives Huge Tax Breaks to the Wealthy While Raising Taxes for Working Mainers and Seniors
October 21, 2015
Legislative Republicans have released a tax plan that is a bad deal for working Mainers and seniors living on fixed incomes. Based on preliminary analysis the Maine Center for Economic Policy conducted in conjunction with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Mainers with income less than $57,000 will, on average, receive a tax increase […]
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.