Taxing and earning

Rep. Joseph Bruno, the House Republican leader, is among the large and, it is hoped, growing number of lawmakers who recognize that Maine’s approach to taxation is more a haphazard collection of exemptions, credits and breaks than a coherent policy.

Several weeks ago, before the 120th Legislature convened, Rep. Bruno said he would support the creation of a special study commission to begin the long and difficulty process of straightening out the state’s tangled tax codes. Now, the Legislature is in session, the first 100 or so of the 2,300 submitted bills have been printed and Rep. Bruno’s good idea looks better than ever. Tax credits, exemptions and breaks are a popular theme, and the collection grows more haphazard.

Some of the proposals are commendable, such as increasing the property tax exemption for veterans or exempting from state income tax the wages of active duty and National Guard personnel. What is missing, however, is any attempt to address the overall situation that income tax rates are too high for everyone and the harmful over-reliance on property taxes. These are problems Maine has wrestled with for years and that more narrowly targeted exemptions will only aggravate.

Some of the proposals are not commendable; they only demonstrate a lack of regard for fairness and ignore the value of a reliable revenue stream. Why, for example, should antique automobiles – truly luxury items – be exempt from the excise tax while a family car – a true necessity – is not? Why eliminate tolls on the Maine Turnpike during Labor Day weekend, the biggest toll-producing weekend of the year and a tourist’s last chance to contribute to the Maine economy? The moose lottery generates a lot of money for wildlife management – why limit the number of chances one can buy?

Do not complimentary hunting and fishing licenses and free registration plates and state park passes for select groups merely raise the cost for everyone else? During the recession of the early ’90s, it was widely recognized that the structure of Maine’s sales tax – a rate too high and a base of taxable goods and services too narrow – had a particularly devastating effect on revenue. Then, more than 20 percent of sales tax revenue came from motor vehicle sales and the purchase of new cars and trucks was one of the first things to go when times got tough.

Now, the rate has been reduced, but the base is narrower than ever. There will be numerous bills to eliminate sales tax from junk food altogether. An exemption for snowmobile trail-grooming equipment is proposed. Removing the sales tax from clothing items under $75 is a good family-friendly idea, but without a comprehensive study of tax policy there is no way to know if the $40-million it will cost in lost revenue could be used another way to help families even more. As the economy cools, the 20 percent reliance upon vehicle sales will seem like the good old days.

As each of these proposals undergoes debate, advocates surely will point to Maine’s high tax burden (tax payments as a function of income) as justification for each exemption, credit and break. True, Maine does have one of the highest tax burdens in the country, but there is no denying that the cause has much more to do with low incomes (now slumping to seventh lowest among the states) than it does with high tax payments (pretty much in the middle). The study commission Rep Bruno proposes on taxing is an excellent idea long overdue. So, too, would be a study commission on earnings.