To the editor:
On Feb. 13th, House Minority Leader, Rep. Alexander Willette, regaled his District 7 constituents and fellow Aroostook County citizens with a self-congratulatory piece, “Keeping money in peoples pockets,” detailing the benefits he and his party brought forth in the 125th Legislature.
Counting the title, Willette five times tells us how glad he is that these policies are “keeping more money in the pockets of Mainers.” Your readers may be wondering whose pockets and how much?
The Representative claims that the tax cuts pushed through for the wealthiest Mainers are a “true tax cut for the working people of Maine that benefits the middle class.” Here’s the reality for many working class families: because of this tax shift they may get a small tax cut and be clobbered with increases near 30 percent in overall taxes. Contrary to “making things a little easier for a lot of folks,” Willette and his party brought us: cuts in Revenue Sharing; cuts to General Assistance; cuts to education; and elimination of the property tax relief programs — Homestead Exemption and the Circuit Breaker for people under age 65 — shredding the safety net for poor families with children and the elderly and disabled.
Municipalities will have no choice but to cut vital services or raise property taxes — in some cases both — and working class Mainers will be handed the bill … all so that the most well off among us can enjoy a substantial tax break.
Are you someone: whose property taxes have doubled, tripled?; who has dropped insurance because of skyrocketing costs?; and/or who has cut back on medication to pay for food and/or heat? The worst may be yet to come. Which is why people should pay close attention over the next weeks and months.
Contact Rep. Willette and other legislators, make your voices heard, help them really understand the dire consequences of their actions. When times are tough there have to be cutbacks, but there must be a better, fairer way.
Stan Maynard
Woodland
