CUMBERLAND FORESIDE — Eliminate Maine’s state income tax by 2020? Why? I’ve listened intently. I’ve heard four arguments asserted, none of which makes any sense. So, let’s review the concept.

• First, some assert that it will help attract business to Maine.

Many times in my career, I helped investigate the relocation of companies and/or manufacturing facilities to other states. We evaluated skilled labor availability, real estate costs, labor rates, economic development grants, offers of tax increment financing and other relevant criteria, but never the state income tax rate. It wasn’t relevant to our decision. So by what economic theory will eliminating the state income tax help bring jobs to Maine?

Some will point to states such as South Dakota, Louisiana, Nevada, Texas, Florida and Alaska that have no income tax and enjoy a higher economic growth rate than Maine does.

But a closer look fails to prove any cause-and-effect relationship. These states are growing for other, non-tax reasons, such as population migration, oil discoveries, aggressive economic grants and incentives, acceptance of Affordable Care Act funds to expand Medicaid and other serendipitous economic variables.

No study has ever demonstrated that a correlation exists between lowering income tax rates and subsequent economic growth.

Most income tax reductions go to the wealthy, who have an extremely low propensity to spend since their consumption needs have already been met. Nor do they tend to invest this newfound money locally. So the income tax cut results in no discernible increase in economic activity.

• Second, I’ve heard that eliminating the income tax will help attract and maintain wealthy retirees. Hmm, don’t we want them here so we can collect their taxes?

Their consumption days are typically over, so the consumption-based tax system won’t help us.

And I have to believe that it’s a small minority of retirees who base their retirement decision on tax policy. For every tax-motivated retiree that we attract, we’d sacrifice 100 percent of the income taxes from all the others who stay here regardless of our tax policy because Maine’s a great place to live – an ill-conceived trade-off!

And even if you wanted to give tax incentives to retirees, wouldn’t it be easier to just leave the state income tax alone and offer various tax credits to people over 65?

• Third, it has been asserted that it will increase taxes on tourists – an excellent concept that I fully support. But the most efficient way to do this is to increase lodging, rental car and restaurant taxes.

Or place a special state assessment at the York tollbooth, Portland International Jetport and Portland Pier.

Or increase sales and gas taxes in the summer months, but lower them the rest of the year so that, over the course of the year, tourists pay more, but Mainers do not.

Or give full-year residents a large “homestead exemption” on property taxes that out-of-staters don’t get. But most of these ideas haven’t even been proposed.

In reality, the elimination of the income tax does absolutely nothing to transfer more of our tax burden to tourists. It’s the myriad of other taxes that replace the income tax that accomplishes it by sheer coincidence and without conviction.

• Fourth, proponents say that replacing income taxes with a broader consumption tax “smooths” tax collections and helps us avoid the boom-and-bust tax inflows when the economy cycles.

But the best way to accomplish this is with a partial replacement of the income tax with other, broader consumption taxes – not by eliminating the income tax.

As a matter of fact, the correct way to avoid boom-and-bust revenue inflows was passed in 2009, and Republicans rallied to kill it in 2010 via a people’s veto.

Help me out, governor. The income tax is the most fair and efficient tax system. Give me a reason to support eliminating it, because it looks to me like another Republican Party method to further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

It appears to be part of the conservatives’ “starve the beast” strategy: Dramatically slash tax revenues to justify draconian cuts to state spending, thus disproportionately harming the poor, the disadvantaged and the middle class.

If not, then please explain to me why eliminating the state income tax is in the best interest of the average Mainer. I’m dumbfounded.