Name Your Poison

The first referendum question voters will see on their ballots in November will also be the most attractive. Question 1A asks whether voters want “the state to pay 55 percent of the cost of public education, which includes all special education costs, for the purpose of shifting costs from the property tax to state resources?” Music to the ears of over-burdened property taxpayers – who should be careful they aren’t hearing a Siren’s song.

The question is especially attractive because it is incomplete. Since the time versions of this question were introduced in the Legislature a couple of years ago, the understanding has been that lowered property taxes would be met with raised state sales taxes. Under certain circumstances, that could be a fair trade and a desirable way to pay for schools. But the question doesn’t say how, specifically, the shift in taxes – $245 million in the first year – would be made. This is not surprising, given the uncomfortable choices that quickly become apparent when the range of sales-tax options are examined.

Well before the November vote, supporters of 1A should describe how they would have the state fund their plan – and just saying the state should just cut fraud, waste and abuse won’t make it. Should all food be taxed? That would bring in $112 million at 5 percent but would also be among the most regressive taxes around. How about a tax on labor service fees? That would bring in $23 million. Or funeral services, at $3.1 million? Amusements and recreation services could generate about $28 million in taxes but are among the most unstable around – do Maine schools really want to depend on the number of ski-lift tickets sold each winter?

These are the choices that lawmakers faced when first considering this funding shift and, not surprisingly, they could come to no agreement on which tax to impose. Choosing isn’t easy. A tax on interstate calls? That would raise $7.5 million. Hitting publications sold on short intervals – $4.7 million (ouch). Sales through vending machines: $800,000. Taxing meals and lodging provided to employees brings in $1.8 million. Conversely, you could tax everything from the wood used to heat your home to the jet fuel for the Boeing you keep at the local airport and raise enough to pay for schools while dropping the overall rate to about 2 percent. Proposing that would keep every lobbyist in Maine busy all legislative session and ensure that nothing at all was passed.

The increase to 55 percent for schools cannot be paid for by cutting waste and revenue growth won’t come close to covering the cost when other increasing state costs, such as health care, are taken into account. Supporters of 1A should spell out for voters which new taxes they would choose to see imposed.