Question 1 offers something we all want: help for seniors and people with disabilities to get the support they need at home. But it pays for that with a 3.8 percent surcharge on incomes over $128,400, which would give Maine the second-highest individual income tax rate in the country, trailing only California.
There must be a better way to achieve the laudable goal of in-home support without imposing a job-killing tax increase that drives professionals out of Maine and certainly discourages people from coming to our state. And, to make matters worse, the initiative would set up an unregulated board to receive and spend the money without oversight by the governor or Legislature.
I will be voting “no” on Question 1, but I hope the new governor and Legislature will address the funding needed to ensure that vulnerable people get the in-home support they need. That’s how the policy process should work.
Tim Agnew
Portland
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