In 2012, Sam Brownback, the Republican governor of Kansas, and that state’s Republican-majority Legislature enacted sweeping tax cuts, following the trickle-down theory that if wealthy individuals and large corporations paid almost no taxes at all, Kansas’ economy would magically expand to replace the lost revenue.

Fast forward three years to 2015: The economy and the tax base did not expand, and now Kansas schools are closing early for the year because they are out of money.

Kansas’ road system, which is a point of pride for the state, is falling into disrepair, and the state can’t pay its workers, which, of course, hurts businesses when they need to get permits, etc.

So in the dead of night, Kansas legislators passed the biggest tax increase in the history of the state of Kansas. But the tax burden will fall almost exclusively on working- and middle-class people in Kansas with massive increases in sales taxes.

Gov. LePage is trying to sell the same economic snake oil to the residents of Maine. If your legislator is a Republican, contact them and tell them you don’t want Maine to become another Kansas.

George Harlan

Old Orchard Beach