To the editor:
Stan Maynard, spouse of a former Democratic candidate for Maine House, recently wrote a letter to the editor entitled “Shifting and shafting, are you better off?” It’s important to address the Democratic Party talking points in this piece and give people the whole story.
The letter’s criticisms of Republicans center on a budget recently proposed by Governor LePage, which cuts some welfare programs and suspends state payouts to town governments, called “revenue sharing.” First, it’s important to note that this is a proposal, and as a member of the Appropriations Committee, I will be working with my colleagues from both parties to craft the final budget.
Throughout this process, however, I will consider the fact that revenue sharing accounts for only 2-3 percent of most municipal budgets, and no more than 7 percent. Republicans have cut waste and reduced spending at the state level, and it’s important that town governments do the same in these tough times rather than raise taxes on hardworking families. Town governments in Maine have increased spending 123 percent over the past 20 years, but do they really do over twice as much for you as they did 20 years ago? Most people I talk to say “no.” So where does all that money go? I say cut the waste and let working people keep more of their money.
Second, Mr. Maynard’s letter is heavy on rhetoric about “tax cuts for the rich” and light on numbers. Democrats in 2009 passed a tax reform package that gave the wealthiest Mainers a $6,000 tax cut and paid for it by raising sales taxes on everyone else in a lopsided plan that voters repealed the next year. Republicans recently passed a true tax cut that gave everyone a break, especially the middle class. Starting this year, 460,000 Maine families will see an extra $337 in their pockets on average, and 70,000 low-income Mainers will no longer have to pay income taxes at all.
Over the past 10 years under Democrats, welfare spending and debt have doubled while taxes have gone up. Should we continue feeding the beast in Augusta or should we give that money back to the people who earned it? As long as I’m at the Statehouse, I’ll put you ahead of the bloated bureaucracy.
Rep. Tyler Clark
(R-Easton)
