LD 1524 increases the estate tax on Mainers who pass on assets to children by lowering the estate tax threshold from $5.6 million to $2 million. Increasing the estate tax is simply bad tax policy. This bill punishes the hard work and success of Mainers, and the economic future of their children!

Maine’s business community is rallying together again – this time on troubling legislation that seeks to reform Maine’s unemployment insurance system without active input from Maine employers.

LD 498, An Act to Reauthorize a 3 Percent Tax on income Over $200,000 To Lift All Maine Workers out of Poverty, threatens to stifle Maine’s fragile economy. Increasing Maine’s individual income taxes will impact jobs and investments, and will ultimately shrink, not grow, Maine’s economy. This bill punishes success and those who work hard to achieve it. This bill will hurt small businesses that have already been hit hard by the pandemic. In Maine, approximately 80% of businesses are established as LLCs, partnerships, or S-Corps. In those instances, the income from the business flows through to the individual taxpayer(s), and he or she is responsible for paying the income tax directly. The Legislature has consistently lowered the top individual income tax rates since 2011. Any increase would be a step backwards, and Maine cannot afford that!

As amended, LD 920, An Act To Promote Oversight of and Competitive Parity among Video Service Providers, would make video service providers and streaming services delivered over the internet a “public utility,” subject to the multitude of regulations that currently cover gas, electric, and water companies. Passage would result in a sea-change in Maine law and add costly new fees to cable customers’ monthly bills, making recovery from a difficult year even more challenging. What’s worse, this preemptive fee could make Maine vulnerable to costly litigation, further burdening taxpayers. And that’s not all - the bill discriminates against providers of streaming services that are investing in critical broadband infrastructure for the state of Maine. 

On Wednesday, June 9, Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, presented the following testimony in support of LD 1733, An Act To Provide Allocations for the Distribution of State Fiscal Recovery Funds, before the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs. We are reprinting it here for your review and consideration.