AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. Paul LePage is going on the offensive for his tax reform plan, and on Wednesday he showed a bit of strategy, detailing what he considers on and off the table in a possible compromise, and taking Democrats to task. And Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves responded in kind.
The governor used a news conference scheduled to unveil his new online tax calculator to rail against Democrats and their tax plan - a plan LePage says is full of gimmicks. The calculator allows residents to compare how much they pay in current taxes to how much they would under LePage's tax plan.
LePage dismissed Democrats' claims that only the wealthy would benefit from his tax overhaul plan.
House Speaker Eves responded by pointing out that the governor's plan is not fully paid for. The two are wide apart philosophically, and in how they see the tax debate playing out. The governor says he is willing to compromise, but not on the bottom line: the eventual elimination of the state personal income tax.
"How you get there is up to you," LePage said. "So long as you get me there I am willing to talk to you. And there is compromise in how we do it. There might even be some compromise on when is the final drop dead date. But I will tell you this: Where there is no compromise is that we want to eliminate the income tax."
Speaker Eves says that goes too far. He says while Democrats are willing to reduce income taxes and make them fair, total elimination of the income tax, he says, is a failed economic policy.
"We literally do reject the failed trickle-down economics theory that the governor is trumpeting," Eves said. "We think it has been bankrupting other states around the country. When you look at Kansas - they have done this out there - they failed. Arkansas, they failed. Louisiana, they failed. Their budgets are in disarray because they did what the governor is trying to do here."
Eves says Democrats are also willing to compromise, but he says they won’t go as far as LePage wants in eliminating the income tax. But the governor says Democrats are misreading Mainers. He says there is growing support for his plan, which includes a constitutional amendment banning the income tax.
"As we go along, every day we gain more, we gain more, we gain more and it will get done," he said. "And if it doesn’t get done by July 1 of 2015, it will get done in November of 2016."
It takes a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate to send a constitutional amendment to the voters for approval.
Mal Leary: "He believes he has got the votes for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the income tax. Do you think there are the votes in the House of Representatives for that?"
Speaker Mark Eves: "I don't."
But both the governor and Democrats are acting like there will be a public vote on tax reform. The governor is continuing his town hall type meetings to sell his plan, with the next one planned for Ellsworth. Democrats are starting similar meetings next week.
