Let’s put all this talk about budget shortfalls and tax reform in the proper perspective: Maine doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. That’s why we have the highest tax burden in the country. Keep this in mind as you watch the current activities in Augusta.

Maine’s economy has been growing at a slow but steady 2 percent increase annually. Our economic problems don’t stem from a lack of growth; they are the direct result of our state and local governments spending our tax dollars faster than our economy can produce them. That is why I have long advocated for the most meaningful tax reform we could enact: a requirement that caps the growth of state spending at or below Maine’s statewide personal income growth. Wouldn’t it be nice to return to the days when paychecks grew faster than tax bills?

In one of the most recent spectacles in Augusta, we saw angry crowds protesting cuts to the state’s Medicaid system – cuts that ironically are needed to fuel a simultaneous expansion of Maine’s already bankrupt Medicaid system. It is unbelievable that when Medicaid shortfalls are already in the hundreds of millions of dollars, we are cutting benefits not to be fiscally responsible, but to expand the program by massive proportions.

Two years ago, I ran for governor of Maine because I was seriously concerned about the direction of our state. Not much has changed, and I am more concerned than ever. We are still facing a huge deficit, which is expected to total $1 billion in this next budget cycle. Instead of reining in state spending to address this crisis, the leadership in Augusta has focused their energies on expanding the state’s financial obligations even further.

Who would ever have expected that Maine – a place known for its frugality and common sense – has become the fastest-growing welfare state (source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) in the country? Who would have ever guessed that the state would be providing Medicaid benefits to one in four of our residents? If my grandparents were alive today, they would hardly recognize the state that gave them so much freedom and opportunity.

As Maine people, we have always been proud of our Yankee independence and strong work ethic, but somehow this is all being turned on its head and we are becoming a state paralyzed by our ever-increasing dependency on government and that government’s insatiable appetite for tax dollars.

Is this really the direction we all want for Maine – a growing dependency on welfare and state services? Wouldn’t we rather be known as a place of opportunity where the economy is growing, businesses are thriving and young people can find jobs? Wouldn’t we rather be known as a place that taxes people fairly and operates its government efficiently?

As it stands now, Maine is headed for being first in the nation in both social program dependency and tax burden.

I still believe Maine people want to take care of their own and that they still put the dignity of self-sufficiency ahead of dependency on the state bureaucracy. But we are headed down the wrong path – one that drives business, growth and opportunity out, leaving us with government services we can’t afford and fewer and fewer people left to pay for them.

Now is the time to speak up. Let our elected leaders in Augusta know that you know the truth. We don’t have a tax problem. We don’t have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem, and time is running out.

Peter Cianchette is Maine chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.