In your July 12 analysis, “After Election Day, lawmakers treated the will of Maine voters as suggestions,” Robyn Merrill of Maine Equal Justice Partners commented that “we do see more funding for education as a result of referendums that passed in the fall.”

May I point out that, yes, there is more funding for education, but it is being paid for by middle-class and working-class people and not by the rich? The money has to come from somewhere, and the Legislature chose to not take it from the rich.

Let’s do the math. If you made $500,000 in 2018, under the new law (repealed by the Legislature), you would have paid $9,000 extra in taxes. I would like to point out that the yearly cost at Thornton Academy for a high school day student is $12,500.

The Republicans’ argument is that this will drive the sainted job creators out of the state. If job creators care more for their money than for the education of the children of the workers who provide them with that wealth – and if a tax surcharge on that money will cause them to leave the state – well, leave. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Twice, Maine voters have told the Legislature that they want 55 percent of the school funding to be provided by the state. The second time, they told them how to fund it. The Republicans have thwarted the will of the people twice. Who do they represent? The rich. Vote them out.

John Schaberg

Scarborough

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