State’s tax burden lamented

AUGUSTA – Maybe there really isn’t such a tremendous philosophical gulf between House Republicans and Senate Republicans.

While GOP legislators from both houses of the Legislature continued Thursday to harbor strong differences over spending priorities in the ongoing state budget debate, they were able to agree on their opposition to any new state taxes that provide budget revenue.

They held a ‘Maine Tax Freedom Day” awareness event on the front steps of the State House to make their point. Citing new data from the Tax Foundation of Washington, D.C., the Republicans deplored Maine’s top ranking by the organization, which rated the state as first in the nation when it comes to the number of days Mainers must work just to pay their combined federal, state and local taxes.

For Maine taxpayers, Tax Freedom Day arrives today, 15 days later than it did in 1995.

“We need to put Maine back in step with the rest of the nation,” said Maine Senate President Pro Tem Richard A. Bennett, R-Norway. “The most recent data confirms that we have the highest tax burden in the country – over 13.6 percent of per capita income is consumed by state and local taxes.”

The 13.6 percent figure was cited by the Tax Foundation, a tax think tank that describes itself as “a nonpartisan educational organization that does not represent any particular economic sector’s point of view.” Unlike Maine, the rest of the five highest tax states – New York, Wisconsin, Vermont and Hawaii – actually reduced their tax burdens in the last year.

The Tax Foundation concluded that Mainers work 82 days to pay federal taxes, 61.3 days to pay for housing and housing expenses, 43 days to pay for medical care, 29.9 days for food, 27 days for transportation, 20.8 days for recreation and 14.9 days for clothing and accessories. The final 37.1 days pay for all other expenses or savings.

Rep. William J. Schneider, R-Durham, said the advancing date of Tax Freedom Day during the last 20 years demonstrates the growth of government and the need for more taxes to underwrite that expansion.

“In 1980, only 21 years ago, the day you stopped working to pay your taxes fell ironically on April 15 – the day you filed your tax returns,” he said. “Many people still think of April 15 as the end of the tax burden. Little do they realize that every single day you worked from Jan. 1 until [today], their paychecks are going to pay state, federal and local taxes.”

Rep. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, proudly proclaimed she had voted against most state budgets during her years in the Legislature because of state government’s penchant to decide how much it wants to spend before handing Maine taxpayers the bill.

“Aren’t you just plain old disgusted that you have to work until May 11 just to pay your taxes?” she asked. “Normal people look at their income and then work up a household budget. Government doesn’t act like normal people.”

Republicans took more than a few jabs at New Hampshire, which was ranked next to the bottom of the Tax Foundation’s tax burden list at 7.6 percent.

“Maine sadly remains one of the least enticing places to start a business,” said Bennett. “It is not difficult to figure out why. Our 8.5 percent income tax rate is undoubtedly one of the culprits. New Hampshire doesn’t collect income tax and Massachusetts recently reduced their income tax to 5 percent.”

Opposition to new taxes remains at the core of the ongoing budget impasse. Competing versions of the state spending plan pit increases in the food and lodging tax and the cigarette tax against the depletion of the state Rainy Day Fund and the governor’s laptop computer account.

“We’re still talking about the budget,” said House Minority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Raymond. “But as far as the tax burden, I think Republicans are very united in saying that our taxes are too high.”