here is some very informative facts

[luckyleftyme2]

LePage’s tax plan: Who wins?

Published:
Thursday, March 3, 2011 2:26 PM EST
The Maine Center for Economic Policy’s two-page analysis of Gov. LePage’s proposed $6.1 billion biennium budget is topped by a provocative headline: “Tax plan: Winners & Losers.”

Its subhead takes that thought a step farther: “Governor’s tax proposals put Maine’s wealthiest taxpayers ahead of working families and compromise future prosperity.”

OK, a reasonable person might say, prove it.

MECEP’s analysis lays the groundwork for proving its assertion by providing some numbers that flow from Gov. LePage’s proposed income and estate tax changes. We think they should stimulate an essential debate over those tax proposals and whether they, in fact, reflect the priorities of working Mainers. At the very least, they suggest that MECEP’s question — “Where’s the ‘Shared Sacrifice?’” — is an excellent touchstone by which to judge Gov. LePage’s proposed budget. We welcome responses from readers to these numbers, and whatever questions they might raise in your minds.

Here, then, are the numbers, along with brief descriptions, quoted directly from MECEP’s analysis:

$400 — Lost property tax relief for households receiving the maximum Circuit Breaker Program benefit.

75,544 — Number of non-elderly Maine households receiving Circuit Breaker property tax relief in FY 2010.

$83 — Average proposed income tax break for Maine families earning between $28,139 and $48,050 in FY 2013.

$874 — Average income tax break in FY 2013 for the 69,667 Maine families making more than $119,763 in the governor’s proposed budget.

$2,770 — Average proposed income tax break in FY 2013 for Maine families making more than $363,438.

550 — Approximate number of estates that benefit from doubling the estate tax exemption from $1 million to $2 million in FY 2014.

$30 million — Cost in lost revenues from doubling the estate tax exemption in FY 2014-15.

$203 million — Cost to the state in the coming biennium of proposed tax changes, 50 percent of which benefit families earning more than $119,783.

When these numbers are balanced against other aspects of the governor’s biennium budget — such as proposed funding cuts to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, proposals to change general assistance benefit regulations, $29 million in proposed MaineCare cuts, to mention just a few — they beg the question raised Monday by MECEP’s associate director Garrett Martin during a State House press conference:

“Where’s the ‘shared sacrifice?’”

ONCE AGAIN IN HIS LINGO=WHERE IS THE SHARED PAIN? JUST ANOTHER LOAD OF BULL PACKAGED IN A DIFFERENT WRAPPER!