As a former town selectman and a businessman with a degree in economics, I want Peter Cianchette to explain how he can propose cutting taxes when Maine already has a hole in its state budget of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Maine’s state budget must be balanced, so what does Cianchette propose to cut? Will he stop the Department of Transportation from plowing roads and fixing bridges? Will he lay off the state police and game wardens? Will he too make big cuts education?

There is no free lunch and it is irresponsible on Cianchette’s part to promise one. There are not hundreds of millions of dollars to be saved cutting back on paper clips and postage stamps. Something has to go and Cianchette owes it to Maine voters to say what state services and functions he will do away with. The only alternative, as we’ve seen in the past, is that the towns are forced to pick up the load passed onto them when the state cuts back. Is Peter Cianchette’s plan to shift the tax burden onto already tapped out property tax payers?

Harry Dwyer

Kents Hill