By Alanna Durkin - The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine Democratic lawmakers have crafted a budget plan that they say will be more beneficial to lower-and-middle class families than Republican Gov. Paul LePage's proposal.
Their plan, released Thursday, would keep the sales tax at 5.5 percent, boost revenue sharing and maintain a tax exemption for nonprofits. LePage would raise the sales tax to 6.5 percent to pay for a massive income tax cut, eliminate revenue sharing altogether, and allow municipalities to tax hospitals and colleges.
Like LePage, Democrats want to overhaul the income tax code but their plan is dramatically different. They say it would provide the bottom 95 percent of earners with 98 percent of the income tax relief. They're also rejecting LePage's plan to cut the corporate income tax and eliminate the estate tax.