Once again, the out-of-state funders of the Maine People’s Alliance are proposing to raise taxes – the highest tax increase in Maine history! They say it is to fund universal home care in Maine. I believe it is a deception and bad public policy. In fact, every candidate for governor opposes Question 1.

Here are three important reasons to vote “no”:

• It violates the private health information of those over the age of 65 receiving care.

• It’s an enormous tax hike on the adjusted gross income of couples filing jointly as well as the vast majority of small businesses in Maine.

• It turns every independent caregiver receiving payments into a state employee.

The alliance’s unconstitutional law establishes a taxpayer-funded organization that is not accountable to the Legislature or the governor. Three members of this board would be elected by those receiving care, so the private health information of Maine’s elderly would be made available to those campaigning for positions on the board. Imagine people at their most vulnerable being pestered for their vote in a brutal high-stakes political battle.

Second, according to a Maine Revenue Services analysis, the extra tax (3.8 percent) would apply to all households filing joint returns on income exceeding $128,400. That huge tax increase also applies to the vast majority of Maine’s small businesses, those that operate as Chapter S corporations.

And third, this is a sinister political play by national public-sector unions to build memberships. How? Every individual personal caregiver paid by this fund would become a state employee and represented by the union in collective bargaining.

This is both a lousy way to solve a problem and a cynical way to build union membership. It belongs to the legislative process, not to referendum.

Tony Payne

Falmouth

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