BANGOR – A coalition of Maine residents, businesses and organizations launched a petition drive Wednesday in an attempt to repeal the beverage tax recently passed by the state Legislature.
About 25 representatives of Fed Up with Taxes gathered at Bangor Wine and Cheese Co. at 2 p.m. Wednesday to publicize the drive and begin collecting the 55,087 signatures needed before July 17 to initiate a statewide vote in November.
“Maine people have had enough,” said Newell Augur, chairman of the coalition and lawyer for the Maine Beverage Association. “They are simply fed up with taxes.”
Maine’s Legislature passed the tax on beer, wine, sodas and other syrup-based drinks to help fund the approximately $50 million annual operating budget of the state’s Dirigo Health program. The bill will increase the 25 cents per gallon tax on beer to 54 cents per gallon, and the 30 cents per gallon tax on wine to 65 cents per gallon. A 42-cent tax will be assessed on a gallon of soda, and simple syrup will be taxed $4 a gallon. The taxes are expected to take effect in late July, Augur said.
Area small-business owners testified during Wednesday’s press conference that their customers cannot afford higher taxes. Restaurant owners said the tax is poorly timed, especially given the current economic state.
I am concerned by the “unintended consequences of this tax,” said Leslie Thistle, owner of Bangor Wine and Cheese Co. and Cafe Nouveau in Bangor. “The tax was imposed at the distribution level with the thinking it [would] be absorbed by them, but in fact, it is passed on to us and to our customers.”
Randy Wadley, owner of Governor’s restaurants, said the beverage tax has created more of an outrage than the cigarette tax. Taxpayers also should be wary, Wadley said, because once the state identifies an item to tax, such as cigarettes, the levy never disappears and is often increased.
“Why is the federal government giving us rebate checks and the state is taxing us more?” he asked during the press conference.
Cherilee Budrick, communications coordinator for Consumers for Affordable Health Care, said in an interview before the press conference that “there are a lot of scare tactics going on here.” She said that corporations are behind the charge for an appeal. The tax for a luxury beverage is a small price to pay for health care.
“Nobody is going to love taxes,” Budrick said. “But what we’re talking about is pennies for the beer, wine and things we want for dollars we all need.”
The American Cancer Society submitted a press release Wednesday afternoon expressing dismay that the “Maine Beverage Association and their partners move[d] forward with plans that jeopardize health insurance coverage for thousands of Maine children and hard-working adults.”
Assistant Senate Majority Leader John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, called on Dana Connors, Maine State Chamber of Commerce president, to resign from Fed Up With Taxes on Wednesday. In a press release issued by Martin’s office, the senator said Connors has betrayed Maine small-business owners. The release alleges that the coalition has taken $700,000 from out-of-state corporations such as Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsi-Cola to hire a California-based company to collect signatures for the petition drive.
When asked if corporations are in fact behind the drive, Augur said, “Last time I checked, corporations don’t sign [people’s] petitions. Maine people are signing these petitions.”
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