ITEP Work in Action
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Everything you need to know about the Democratic and Republican tax plans in one chart
October 21, 2015
Last week Republican legislators released their proposal for overhauling Maine’s tax system. The plan includes income and corporate tax cuts, and eliminates the estate tax, all disproportionately benefiting Maine’s wealthiest earners. It also continues the current 5.5% sales tax rate slated to expire later this year, and increases the meals and lodging tax rate to […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: The one question Republican legislators need to answer
October 21, 2015
Last Friday legislative Republicans released their tax plan for the coming two-year budget cycle. In reference to the Republican plan, Maine people deserve an answer to one specific question: “The legislative Republicans’ tax proposal takes money from poor and working class Mainers and gives it to the wealthy. Is this by design or by mistake?” […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Where tax fairness is concerned, the legislative Republicans’ tax plan is the worst of all
October 21, 2015
Republican legislators released their plan for overhauling Maine’s tax system last week. Yesterday MECEP posted a chart comparing the distributional impacts of the Republican and Democratic plans. The key takeaway from that chart was that Mainers whose income is less than $89,000 – the bottom 80% of all Maine taxpayers – fare better on average […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Latest Budget Deal modestly improves Maine’s tax system progressivity, future revenue adequacy less certain Latest Budget Deal modestly improves Maine’s tax system progressivity, future revenue adequacy less certai
October 21, 2015
It is less clear whether or not revenues in the proposal will be adequate to maintain current spending in the future when adjusted for inflation. Both the Better Deal for Maine plan offered by Democrats in April and the majority budget proposal passed by the Appropriations Committee in a 9-4 vote, raise more revenue in […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Budget deal includes refundable tax credits for low- and moderate-income Mainers
October 21, 2015
The tax overhaul agreed upon by legislative leaders in their recent budget negotiations includes several major provisions that affect state and local taxes, including lower income tax rates, a broader income tax base, a doubling of the homestead property tax exemption, an estate tax cut, and permanently higher sales tax rates. Read full report here
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Statement on Gov. LePage’s Proposal to Seek a Ballot Initiative to Reduce Maine’s Income Tax to 4 Percent by 2021
September 22, 2015
The non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that Mainers with annual income above $175,000 would receive almost 50 percent of the benefits from this massive tax cut. The top 1 percent of Mainers with income greater than $390,000 would get an average tax cut of over $21,000 while the 20 percent of Mainers […]
Maine Policy Review: The Distributional Effects of Recent Changes to Maine’s Tax System
June 11, 2014
Both classical economic theory and recent empirical research support the notion that taxes should be progressive: that the wealthiest citizens should pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the middle class, and the middle class should pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the poor. Like every other state […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Statement at Hearing on L.D. 1664, An Act To Encourage Charitable Contributions to Nonprofit Organizations
May 22, 2014
Honorable Senator Haskell, Representative Goode, members of the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation, I am Garrett Martin, Executive Director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP). I am here today to speak in opposition to LD 1664. Since 2011, Maine’s tax code has gotten less, not more, fair. Reductions to the top income tax […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Now is the Time for Tax Reform: Can LD 1088 Deliver?
January 14, 2013
Taxes are central to our individual and collective well-being. Taxes provide the revenue that supports the physical infrastructure, the education, health care, and environmental protections that we have collectively decided are essential to keep our communities and families thriving. Still, the way government collects taxes has significant implications for the reliability and fairness of the […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: TABOR II: A Danger to Maine’s Economy, Communities, and People
January 14, 2013
After soundly rejecting TABOR I in 2006, this November Maine voters will face another TABOR initiative. Despite claims by proponents that TABOR I’s many flaws have been corrected, TABOR II contains all of the central elements that made the original proposal so dangerous for Maine’s economy, communities, and people. In fact, in important respects, TABOR […]
Maine Center for Economic Policy: MECEP Urges Legislature to Expand and Simplify Maine’s Property Tax “Circuit Breaker”
January 14, 2013
The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP)today urged the members of the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Taxation to support L.D. 474, “An Act to Reduce the Property Tax Burden and Improve the Circuit Breaker Program.” The Maine Residents Property Tax and Rent Refund Program, popularly known as the “Circuit Breaker,” provides eligible Maine residents […]
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