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• Anonymous

  Talk about a non-story.  In the time this group came up with it’s cuts, the State discovered that it needs to make at least $125 million more in order to break even.  When it was proposed, this was a valiant attempt by the administration to look competent.  Now it looks like a weak response and highlights the inability of this administration to recognize a pending disaster. 

• Jeff

  I noticed that this article did not say anything that are in the cuts??

• Anonymous

  “It’s hard to do away with services that have always been there.” Gee, no kidding. It takes discipline. Just like a diet. So state government, put the fork down…

• Anonymous

  Keschl agreed that lawmakers have a tougher job ahead.“I think what we’ve learned from all this is that it’s hard to do away services that have always been there, but state government can no longer fulfill all promises that have been made over the last 40 years,” he said. “We just can’t afford it anymore.”What a bunch of crap. This is part of a nationwide TParty plan to eliminate all forms of welfare leaving the Federal government only National Defense. Don’t bother to ask me to prove it. They’re happy to tell you all about it themselves. CATO Institute, ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, the Maine Heritage Policy Center, and all their other front organizations that are laundering Campaign Election Fraud money to put Vladimir Putin in the President’s seat.

• Anonymous

  so whats your answer to fix the budget? Any positive ideas

• Anonymous

  My answer is to elect an administration that is able to attract the kind of talent that is required to resolve some incredibly difficult, complex problems.  We don’t have that, so we at least need an administration that can recognize that it doesn’t have that kind of talent and works to recruit it.  Unfortunately we don’t have that either.  In terms of a positive idea, I’d say pay attention and cast a meaningful vote in the next State election.  Until then, Maine is hamstrung.

• Anonymous

  If Maine is broke, it is because of the recent spate of tax breaks which have gone primarily to the rich.  The reduction of the estate tax and the tax breaks to those earning more than $100,000 are costing us close to $200 million in this budget cycle. 

  This is just the beginning.  As Douglas Rooks and Dirigo Blue
  both have documented, if the LePage tax cuts are maintained in the next 2 year
  budget cycle, Maine will face a budget shortfall of more than $350 million.   

  So I hope those who supported these  tax breaks are sleeping well at night, knowing school health centers and hospitals are going to have to start cutting back on services.

• Anonymous

  A majority of the tax breaks did not go to “the rich.” Whenever the top tax bracket gets a reduction, no matter how much the other brackets also got a reduction, people will always claim that the wealthy are the only ones getting a break. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but didn’t he eliminate income taxes for nearly 100,000 people? He also reduced the middle tax rates, and meanwhile only reduced the top bracket a whopping half a percent. Tax the wealthy and businesses all you want, but there is nothing stopping them from simply moving to another state, like New Hampshire where there is no income tax.
  I am not saying that you’re $200 Million number is wrong, but I am curious to see supporting evidence of this.And any budget shortfall in which more than the bare minimum of necessary government services are provided is not a result of taxes not being high enough, it is a result of too much spending.

• Anonymous

  Can anyone remember a time when we did have an administration that could resolve any difficult or complex problems? It sure as heck was not the last one. It should come as no surprise that after years of “kicking the can down the road” by previous administrations that at some point there would have to be a day of reckoning , I think that day is upon us. People of Maine, wake up and demand that your State Representative stop the foolishness and take governing seriously and shrink the size of state government and control spending. The waste and abuse of taxpayers’ money within our government is out of control. For any politician listening(Democrat, Republican, Independent or other) if you are not an effective legislator you will be remembered on election day. Not one bill should be allowed for consideration if it increases spending by even one dollar, better yet if the bill does not contain spending cuts, it should not be allowed for debate or consideration.

• Anonymous

  There need to be more tax cuts for the wealthy, they are the job creators and spend more money then the lazy middle class.  Most Mainers don’t realize how much it actually cost to own large houses with a lot of land.  The middle class wouldn’t know what to do with $7-800. car payments or how about paying for first class seats out of the country. More tax cuts please Governor LePage!

• Anonymous

  True, there is always the risk that if you don’t pander to them, the wealthy will move to another state.  But where does that stop?  Shall we aim to compete with the tax havens of the Caribbean?  And where would we be then?

  0.5% of $500.000 is $2,500.00.  Families making less than $40,000 per year are now paying less in taxes, true, but they were paying little to begin with.  Maybe they now have $5.00 – $10.00  more to spend every week.  

  The point I would like to make is that the guy making $500,000 per year is doing pretty well with our without the tax break.   If he is gonna move out of Maine if he doesn’t get that $2,500, I guess he didn’t like it much here anyway.  The kid that no longer gets breakfast at school, or the disabled person who no longer can get medical care when he needs it might notice a little bit more.

• Anonymous

  Privatize the Maine Maritime Academy. Saves $9,000,000 the first year and  save $100,000,000 over this decade.  Why would a country-club school /Sports spa with nearly 1/2 of the student body from out of state who graduate and never look back..( much less than paying back any Maine taxes) command scarce resource $’s more than necessary road maintence, aid to dependent citizens, courts, education, etc which are being cut? The Maine Maritime Academy operates outside of the Maine University and Community College systems, but you can find this very questionable stealth item buried in the shadows of the  budget.

• Anonymous

  For half a percent or $2,500 for someone who makes $500,000 is not likely enough for them to move out. In that case I agree, but the problem tends to always be “well it’s just another $2,500″ it is a case of “the straw the broke the camels back.” The state of Maine loves to pass all these “fees” and “taxes” on cell phone bills because it is “only another $0.05″ and the next thing you know, I am paying $20 in “fees” and taxes on my $50 cell phone bill.

  I think to some degree states have to compete with each other. Take for example a household that makes $100,000. Say they are able to move the New Hampshire and make the same amount of money, by doing so they get to keep an additional ~5% of their income assuming similar living expenses. In this case, they move and Maine loses revenues. As far as competing with places such as the Caribbean, that is really a separate issue in which I would consider blatant tax evasion.There are cases like in Washington or Michigan where they have massive budget shortfalls, and to overcome this they jack tax rates up, and the result ends up being that the working class and wealthy alike pack their bags and move and the states have significant declines in revenues despite higher tax rates.

• Anonymous

  Not surprisingly there were no cuts to legisvermin staff, pay, or benefits.  Part time employees with full time benefits.

• Anonymous

  At least, unlike the failed Bladacci administration, this one isn’t “balancing” the budget by selling off valuable state assets to connected Dem insiders, not paying bills, and using accounting tricks to pretend the budget is balanced when it isn’t.  Refreshing, isn’t it?

• Anonymous

  I was on workmans comp, short term. I recieved TONS of JUNK MAIL, including a plastic CREDIT CARD from unemployment benefits. Since I couldn’t work, I didn’t qualify! There was a 0 balance on it, and I assume there is still a ZERO balance on it! I called to tell them to STOP sending me all this JUNK mail because I didn’t qualify because I couldn’t WORK. It still trickles in 9 months LATER! From more then one office. WASTE, WASTE, WASTE;  how many people do we have unemployed? I recieved the same letter 6 times in the first 2 weeks. Now I just keep getting REPEAT mail. Talk about job SECURITY, keeps the postoffice busy and someone stuffing and stamping! Our Maine State Government Wasting our money at work, or is it job security?

• Anonymous

  Make the rich pay taxes for a start.

• Anonymous

  Put America back to work and paying taxes and all this budget cutting would be unnecessary. The American consumer is the one most responsible for the state and federal governments not having enough to fund the needed programs. We are sending our hard earned money to China faster than we can print it, and it only returns in the form of a loan. We need to put Americans back to work and paying taxes. We simply can not continue to flock to WalMart, Kmart, and Target to buy cheap Chinese crap and then turn around and wonder why there are no jobs and the government is out of money as well. There is a lot of finger pointing going on right now, and none of them being pointed in the right direction. We need a little good old fashioned protectionism, just like our grand parents would have done. My grand father would have taken a beating before he bought foreign products while there are American out of work. Show a little patriotism at the cash register. There is your answer to fixing the budget, creating jobs, and sticking it to the top 1%. The top 1% are the only ones profiting from our lust for cheap Chinese crap.

• MyThoughts

  Letting others speak for you without your input is akin to surrender.  Be part of the 98% who are going to save America!  Stop the 2% who don’t care about you or me.  No more cowering to the capitalistic extreme and definitely not to the occupier’s socialistic crap! 

• Anonymous

  The GOP wants you to DIE, so they can put more money in their contributors pockets…..!!!!!

• Anonymous

  The state doesn’t “make” anything.  All it can do is “take” in one form or another.  

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

  The only word that Republicans and the Tea Party can comprehend is CUTS!

  So they Cut Taxes on the Whealthy and Jobs / Welfare for the Poor!

  Brilliant!

  Absolutely Brilliant!

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

  Stop the 2% who don’t care about you or me. 

  Its more like “”MyThought”"

  You Keep posting the same “one”!

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

  Thats because they Equate to Jobs!

• Tyke

  So Republicans cut over $200 million out of the funding stream by giving tax breaks to the most wealthy Mainers and now the chickens have come home to roost.

  That’s what we get for electing a guy whose highest achievement ever had been selling junk to gullible rubes and convinced them they were getting a bargain.

  Come to think of it he’s STILL selling junk to the rubes. Lepage increased spending in the state budget over Baldacci’s last budget, can’t even stay within his bloated bigger government projections (he’s projected to be at least $175 million over his own budget), and the gullible folks keep telling us how he’s “cutting spending”.

  Here’s a clue folks: “cutting” does NOT mean spending more!

  You’ve been had by our FlimFlam governor.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

  I don’t remember the exact numbers, but didn’t he eliminate income taxes for nearly 100,000 people?

  I do, on the average Maine Family $134.00!

  A token for your vote!

• Tyke

  No, this administration is just increasing state government spending over the budget from that last guy you hated so much, and has somehow fooled you and others into thinking he’s doing the opposite.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

  Only after you have been thier slave for 30 years and no longer usefull!

• Tyke

  If by “stealth” you mean open and publicly published for everyone to easily see, I get your point.

  Again

  and again

  and again.

  The point has never been a good one and just reflects the hatred you constantly spew for MMA.

• MyThoughts

  Unless people like yourself, the 98%, decide to speak out against the real problems, inaction and counteraction that do not collectively speak for us we are screwed.  It is time to find a balance between taxes and entitlements that help the 98% succeed and to stop the 2%.  Rebuild the American Community by reaching out to a stranger and asking how are things.  Care about each other and be heard.  The 98% love America.

• Anonymous

  I bet the”rich” pay more in taxes than you do, contribute to charities and fund other worthwhile causes. What have you personally contributed today?

• Anonymous

  Actually – the Penguin administration sold some homes to the Warden at Warren, a process that derailed by public outcry.  Let’s not give him more credit than he is due.  I don’t feel refreshed by anything that Penguin is behind.

• Anonymous

  Have you thought about reapplying to that school?  Perhaps as an adult you would be a more attractive applicant and they might consider you for admission this time around.  Perhaps if that happened you’d be able to let go?

• Anonymous

  Thats right buy American or don’t buy at all. In about a month all the big businesses who abandoned the U.S.A.; thru political corruption, would be begging to reestablish there manufacturing facilities back in America.  

• Anonymous

  I agree with most every point you have made except a couple

  “Put America back to work and paying taxes and all this budget cutting would be unnecessary.”

  “sticking it to the top 1%”

  The budget cutting needs to be accomplished regardless of any current economic conditions, good or bad. Government spending is out of control and the size and scope of government is out of hand. Sticking it to the top 1% is nothing more than trying to find a scapecoat versus placing the blame on our career politicians where it belongs.

   Everything else you stated is spot on ( in my opinion).

• Anonymous

  Sheep like you are scary. 

• Anonymous

  That is right. Then slam the door shut when they try to come crawling back. Tell them to live in China for a while. Be closer to their people. We also have to make it a class A felony to hire illegals. Or they will just move their factories back here and staff them with illegal labor. Just like they are doing now. Ever wonder why it has taken 20 years to build three miles of fence on an 800 mile border? Too many cheap s.o.b.s want the flow of illegals to continue, but they have to make it look like they are tough on immigration.

• Anonymous

  It’s probably about time for you “occupy” people to re-calculate your percentages. You do not even come close to representing 98% of us, which is very evident by the comments against it on this site.
  Your little protest is down the tubes, along with your Quimby project, which seems to have all the same people in favor of it.
  The “getting everything at someone else’s expense” era is gone. Even your protest is at someone else’s expense.

• Anonymous

  I believe that if they get 1 out of  10 people to sign up for a card its paid  for it self. The cost is  small to print an mail out the junk mail .

• Sidney Bob

  This is just business as usual. 

  “…Senate President Kevin Raye, said in a joint statement. “But the closure of a facility with the most reliable and experienced staff in the entire correctional system does not make sense.”

  That’s not what he meant. What he meant was this is PORK for the people who elect me.

  Republican/Democrat it makes NO DIFFERENCE! They just feed different pigs – but they’re all feeding pigs.

  Unfortunately, as proven by all the money from away in the last election, we get the government the corporations buy for us.

• Anonymous

  Conservatives have gotten a lot of mileage out of the idea that Maine’s economy is worse than most.  Here’s an interesting fact:

  The metropolitan area east of the Mississippi with the LOWEST UNEMPLYMENT RATE IS KITTERY, Maine.  Not Boston, not New York, not Atlanta, not anywhere.  Portland, Maine is not far behind Kittery.

  Maine’s unemployment rate is much better than most states and has been for the last several years at least.

  Let’s stop feeling sorry for ourselves and start making policies that recognize Maine as the leading economy it is.

• MyThoughts

  I am not an Occupier, I am one of of the other 98% of Americans who have had enough.  It is time for us to stand together and find a balance to save the American Community.  If you had read my posts you would see that.  You as one of the 98% need to put personal feelings aside and seek answers that help all Americans.  It is just not taxes and it is just not entitlements; further it isn’t just yes and it isn’t just no.  When I go to sleep I want to dream of an America where my grandchildren and future generations can succeed.  Either you are part of the solution or you are just one of the 2% trying to destroy this country; the 1% anarchist occupiers and 1% money changers. The 98% love America.

• Anonymous

  I see now.
  Thank you for explaining that.

• Anonymous

  lazy middle class, excuse me! I’ve been employed since I was 15 years old, including the entire time I went to college. My wage has been stagnent for 5 years, my husband got laid off and it took him 5 months to find a job and you are calling me lazy – get over yourself! The middle class is turning into the working poor, hence the bad economy, the middle class has always driven this economy, when the middle class suffers the economy follows!

• Anonymous

  If you are not happy with some equality or becuase someone has done a little better in life then maybe you should try another line of employment so you can benifit from a well paying job and or business.  Sometimes one looks at all this mumbo jumbo about the rich, the middle and the less fortunate and cannot figure out who should pay what.  Let’s just go to a flat tax and everyone pays no earnings cap everyone pays their fare share.  That should stop all this they get more than me syndrome

• Anonymous

  I know it’s hard to keep up with all of the graft, waste and insider deals of the failed Bladacci administration, but I was talking about the sale of the profitable state liquor business to connected Dem insiders at a fire sale price that was used as a one time infusion of cash to pretend to balance the state budget.

  BTW the insider deals on state assets was an ongoing thing during the failed Bladacci administration and not a one time occurrence…

  “This was reported by Maine’s government watchdog agency, which conducted a study looking at five years of state property sales and found that only 13 out of 49 were marketed publicly. The rest were done quietly, with no attempt to solicit potential bids from those not in the know.”

  http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/state-needs-firm-rules-for-future-land-sales_2011-10-20.html

  I know it’s hard to keep up with the abuses of the Baldacci administration so I’ll cut you some slack for not knowing this, but now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

• Anonymous

  Take it one step further privatize the university and community college systems also.  See how long all these campuses last.

• Anonymous

  Well, if he eliminated taxes on 100,000 people which saved them $134; if that is all they were paying in taxes to begin with, then unless you plan to supplement their income, that is all you can really cut isn’t it?

• Conley Raye

  Get rid of the waste. Group things together. Our waste has been going on for a long time and we need to deal with it. I believe in rasing the tax on the super rich and drug testing for welfare.  We have to many drug clinic’s, we need to group them all together as well.

• Anonymous

  Do you mean the rich paid more in real dollars or as a percentage of their income?

• Anonymous

  Cut healthcare and social services for the needy.  Thank you GOP!

• Anonymous

  What gives you the right to steal money from people who legally earned it and give it to others who didn’t earn it.  Looter

• Anonymous

  Real dollars, then add the amounts that they donate to charity and the other good causes and I bet the percentages are comparable. Please don’t start the calls that because they are successful and therefore must be criminals they should be taxed into oblivion.

• Anonymous

  Cut waste! Cut Waste! CUT WASTE!

  Hey, wait a minute. Why does no one seem to question the wasted revenues given away every year for tax exemptions, deductions and sundry dodges that rob the Maine Treasury of critically needed income?

  While watchful oversight is always necessary, tax dollars spent carefully on valued services are not wasteful. In fact, blindly slashing government expenditures to balance a shortfall is astonishingly imprudent from a strictly fiscal point of view.

  Deferring or abandoning required maintenance and vital public services is a certain route to catastrophic failure.

• Anonymous

  So, let me get this straight.  For  100 years, it has been a widely accepted practice (also a Christian principal, I might add) that the payment of taxes be based at least partly on ability to pay.   Those able to pay more have, in general, paid more.  Most have seemingly accepted it. 

  But now that traditionally accepted practice has been re-defined as “theft.”   Was there a vote on this?   Did I miss something?

  No one makes their money in a vacuum.  Without the transportation, communication, education, and defense systems that are in place, where would any of us be?   Those who generate wealth make greater use of those systems and so it makes sense that they would contribute more to support them.

• Anonymous

  what do you consider rich?

• Anonymous

  I don’t know how it is paid for if its an unemployment benefit. I will admit I have no idea how all that is funded. I assumed unemployment was partially funded by taxpayers. I think we pay into unemployment insurance when we work. But, for some reason, I am thinking that the federal governement keeps kicking in money to extend unemployment benefits. It seems to me that its not paying for itself by businesses. Tax payers are now funding it, so cut the junk mail, if I am correct. I could be very wrong and will take my lashing. ;-)

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7T3YNF6MG3FPEAVTFIJC44VQUI Dlbrt

  Austerity, Republican Style,

  They CUT the Taxes on the Whealthy,

   so to make things fair,

   they CUT the benefits to the poor!

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SHNOU64ZBOBIKWUF5IM6WSH7WA entitled4life

  Many of the tax breaks went to senior citizens on a pension so I guess you think that they are the rich and you want to tax them and then help them out with State programs and entitlements.  Makes no sense to take their money and then buy them stuff but it seems to make sense to you.  In any event, I agree that there should not have been a tax break for anyone until the budget can finally be balanced in this State.