Education, Maine’s Economy, Taxes and Budget What happens when those with the most pay the least taxes? In the early hours of the morning on July 4th, Maine Lawmakers enacted a two year budget that repealed the voter approved three percent surcharge on household income over $200,000 and gave a massive tax cut to the top two percent of households. This is the third biennial budget in eight years that contained tax breaks for the wealthiest Mainers. The top five percent of Mainers now pay the lowest effective tax rate on average compared to all other income groups. These tax breaks for the wealthiest come at a cost to investments in thriving communities and worsen income inequality. Sarah Austin Posted July 7, 2017 Tags Education, Property Tax, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Education, Maine’s Economy, Taxes and Budget Forget "Taxachusetts" or Connecticut - Maine should worry about being...Maine A vibrant economy that works for everyone needs strong public services, and above all, good schools. And that requires everyone to pay their fair share towards those […] James Myall Posted June 29, 2017 Tags Economy, Education, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Education, Taxes and Budget Senate Republican vote defies will of voters, compromises current and future school funding to give tax cuts to wealthy [pdf-embedder url=”https://www.mecep.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Senate-budget-vote-6-13-2017.pdf” title=”Senate budget vote 6-13-2017″] Posted June 13, 2017 Tags Education, Tax Breaks, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Education, Taxes and Budget Republican Education Funding Plan Would Raise Property Taxes Maine voters asked legislators to tax the wealthiest 2% of Maine households to fully fund education in the state. Now, Republican lawmakers are trying to weaken our […] Sarah Austin Posted June 1, 2017 Tags Education, Property Tax, Taxes
Education Testimony in Support of LD 1492, “An Act To Attract, Educate and Retain New Mainers to Strengthen the Workforce” We need to ensure that the benefits of immigration are available to all parts of Maine. It’s fair to acknowledge that many Maine towns just lack the […] Mark Sullivan Posted May 10, 2017 Tags Education, Immigration
Education Workforce bill takes aim at skills gap in Maine The bill also received the support of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, State Director of the Maine Community College System Jim McGowan, Gilda Nardone of New […] MaineBiz Posted May 6, 2017 Tags Education
Education Testimony in Support of LD 1467 An Act To Expand Competitive Skills Scholarships and Strengthen Maine's Workforce Development Programs The Competitive Skills Scholarship program provides grants to low-income students not only for tuition and books, but also for child care, transportation, and emergencies critical for adult […] Mark Sullivan Posted May 2, 2017 Tags Education, Jobs
Education, Taxes and Budget Analyzing the impact of the surtax “There’s just no data to support that level of total outmigration,” [MECEP’s Garrett Martin] says. Caroline Cornish, WCSH-TV, April 13, 2017, interviews MECEP’s Garrett Martin. Martin disputes […] WCSH Posted April 13, 2017 Tags Education, Revenue, Taxes
Education, Taxes and Budget MECEP Testifies Against Bills to Cut Taxes for the Wealthy at Expense of Maine's Schools Augusta, Maine (Monday, March 20, 2017) State legislators on the taxation committee will hold a public hearing today on several bills that would roll back the tax […] Posted March 20, 2017 Tags Budget, Education, Tax Breaks, Tax Fairness, Taxes
Education, Taxes and Budget Testimony in Opposition to LD 291, LD 337, LD 551, LD 829, and LD 851 “Now that Question 2 is law, Maine has a bona fide path to fully funding education in 2018 and the wealthiest 1% of Maine households still pay […] Mark Sullivan Posted March 20, 2017 Tags Education, Tax Fairness, Taxes