Staff Report

Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart interviews Sen. Bruce Bickford, Senate Republican lead on the Legislature’s Taxation Committee

Stewart: So, Bruce, fill us in on what is the latest with tax policy in the State of Maine? What is going on?

Bickford: Well, one of the things that has happened is with the pension deduction for senior citizens They save their money with 401(k)s [or other retirement plans] all their life. Now the state wants to take that deduction away. So, you live in Maine, you pay taxes all your life; and they want to keep taxing you when you retire. It’s tough.

Another thing we’re dealing with is the repeal of the Property Tax Stabilization Program for seniors. We tried to bring that back this year; but, unfortunately, those bills failed. So, it’s kind of a sad state of affairs.

Stewart: It seems like the Democrats are spending all kinds of money and raising taxes on Maine people to pay for it. Is that the long and short of it?

Bickford: Yeah, basically. You pay taxes when you earn it, you pay taxes when you spend it and you pay taxes when you die. It’s a never-ending struggle.

Stewart: There are some other taxes, too. I know they just increased the tobacco tax in Maine. That’s having an impact on folks. It seems like they’re taking away good programs and just replacing them with tax increases. Is that a fair assessment?

Bickford: Absolutely. Take the tobacco tax —they’re taxing the poorest people in the State of Maine. If you look at the number of people that smoke, there’s going to be a large percentage of low-income Mainers. A lot of them are on MaineCare, Social Security or disability already. Those are the same people we are going to tax. And as a former smoker myself, I can tell you it’s not going to stop them from smoking.

Stewart: So, it’s a pretty sad state of affairs for tax policy in Maine under Democrat control. So, tell me what the vision is for a Republican controlled-Legislature and a Republican-controlled Tax Committee. What can folks expect to see with that?

Bickford: The vision for me is stopping the spending. We’ve got to lower the spending. Maine has not always had an income tax and a sales tax. These are all relatively new things. Income tax was passed in Maine in 1969; and now look at it. It’s blown out of proportion. It’s crazy.

Stewart: We all know that states compete. There are 50 laboratories of democracy. States compete for business and obviously tax structures within these states play a role in that. What can we be doing as a state to be more competitive in bringing businesses to Maine and growing our economy?

Bickford: One of the ways we compete is income tax. If you look at New Hampshire, they have no income tax. Look at Massachusetts — they have a flat income tax rate of five percent. Maine’s top rate is over seven percent; and if you’re a business, it’s 8.95 percent.

We need to start by slowly reducing those rates. We can’t do it in a two-year period or a four-year period, but over 10 or 20 years we can really get that reduced to a significant competitive rate.

Stewart: Obviously when we do that, we’re going to get more economic activity, more business and more growth — and more revenue for the state by lowering taxes. Property taxes are obviously a major variable as well. Tell me what the Republican vision is for property taxes?

Bickford: As you know, the Democrats took away the Senior Property Tax Freeze. Republicans have bills in to take care of that and bring that program back. If we’re in charge, we’re bringing that back. It’s a good model and other states do it. Look at Florida — it’s in their constitution — we can do the same thing. I think it’s a great plan.

Senator Harold “Trey” Stewart III represents District 2, which includes communities in Aroostook and Penobscot counties. He is the Senate Republican Leader and a member of the Legislative Council.

Senator Bruce Bickford represents Auburn, Durham and Poland in Androscoggin County and New Gloucester in Cumberland County. He is the Senate Republican lead on the Legislature’s Taxation Committee.

Text edited for clarity and brevity.