During the last legislative session, the Legislature passed LD 743, “An Act To Extend And Improve the Seed Capital Tax Credit Program,” heralded by all the Maine media as desperately needed to support Maine entrepreneurs.

There was no other point of view presented, and to date I have found only one objection to the new improved Seed Capital Tax Credit Program, and this comes from the chief officer of the Finance Authority of Maine, Beth Bordowitz, in testimony before a legislative committee,

Bordowitz suggested that increasing the yearly limit by which the state can transfer taxpayer money to private capitalists — from $500,000 to $4 million — is going too far and that it would be wiser to simply double the amount.

This advice, from a highly placed executive officer in Maine’s economic development network, was ignored by our Legislature, and the ”improved” version, with its eightfold increase in the rate of transfer of wealth, was passed without the governor’s signature. Gov. LePage’s comment about not signing the bill was simply, “It isn’t ‘impactful’ enough.”

There are many other interesting details in the Seed Capital Tax Credit Program, many of which are not mentioned in media news reports. The only way to find out about them is to read the law itself.

The program is sold to the public as a means to bring capital to Maine, by socializing the risk and privatizing the gain.

The program directly transfers taxpayer dollars to private capitalists. It bypasses the bond process, in which taxpayers have a say in how their money is spent and whether they want to take on further indebtedness.

The Maine Constitution provides 90 days from the end of a legislative session to gather signatures for a people’s vote on legislation passed. Because the Seed Capital Tax Credit Program gives away people’s money, there is no better bill for a people’s vote.

If the people’s money is being given away, shouldn’t the people have a say in the matter? This is the opportunity, but the window is closing.

The original Seed Capital Tax Credit Program was passed in 1989 and did not come up for an extension until 25 years later, when funding reached its limit. If there is no people’s vote on the Seed Capital Tax Credit Program now, it will be a long time before the people have a chance to have a say again.

There has been no public discussion about the effects of this program beyond the way it benefits targeted entrepreneurs. But it does affect the rest of the economy. A shrinking middle class may be one of its effects as the middle class accounts for a large portion of the tax payers whose money is being given away.

The number of signatures required to bring LD 743 to a vote is one-tenth the number of votes in the most recent gubernatorial election.

There is no organization specific to the cause but it’s as much a part of the ideology of the Maine People’s Alliance as it is of the Ron Paulers.

It is a very simple issue: The people’s money is being given away to private capitalists. The people should have a voice in it.

I am calling on all organizations working in the interest of Maine people to gather the required number of signatures to force a people’s vote.

Let the people decide if they want to authorize unselected government bureaucrats to give their hard- earned dollars to private capitalists.

MACKENZIE ANDERSEN, of East Boothbay, writes a blog titled “Preserving The American Political Philosophy.”