‘Is This Our Party Anymore?’ — Maine’s Establishment Republicans Who Got Canceled

That was the dilemma for Mills, whose budget writers were confronting an estimated $100 million hole in the current budget if the state conformed to the federal tax code on PPP loans. Mills has since reversed course amid backlash from business organizations that have been typically friendly to her during her first two years in office. She has vowed to see whether her administration can use new federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for the conformity.

That decision didn’t please the Maine Center for Economic Policy, which argues that conforming will provide a double benefit for businesses while people who received pandemic unemployment insurance will still pay taxes on their benefits.

Click here to read the full story, first published January 29, 2021, in Maine Public.