Voters will face five complex referendum questions when they go to the polls during the June 8 primary and referendum election.
Unlike recent referendum questions that flooded the TV airwaves with commercials for and against gay marriage and for and against legalizing medical marijuana usage, this batch of questions is all about money and taxes.
Question 1 is billed as a “Peoples’ Veto” of a tax reform measure enacted by the legislature and signed by Gov. John E. Baldacci.
A ‘yes’ vote means getting rid [or repeal] of the new tax law while a ‘no’ vote favors the measure.
The ballot question says: “Do you want to reject the new law that lowers Maine’s income tax and replaces that revenue by making changes to the sales tax?”
The law lowers the income tax for those earning less than $250,000 from 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent and expands the sales tax to a number of items including hiking the meals and lodging tax from 7 percent to 8.5 percent.
Leading the repeal faction is District 20 Sen. David Trahan (R-Waldoboro). He is joined by the Maine Innkeepers Association, the Maine Restaurant Association, and the Maine Realtors, while others, including the Maine State Chamber of Commerce “overwhelmingly” voted to support the new tax.
The other ballot questions seek voter’s approval to for state officials to issue more than $100 million bonds for various projects:
• $25.5 million to fund offshore wind energy demonstration projects and increase energy efficiency at the state’s colleges and universities.
• $47.8 million in transportation improvement bonds including ports, and $4 million for Aroostook County railroads.
• $23.7 million for economic development projects including improvements in food processing for fishing, dairy, agricultural and lumbering businesses. Also it would fund some redevelopment of the Brunswick Naval Air Station to civilian use, that would make the state eligible for more than $39 million in federal or other matching funds.
• $10.25 million to improve water quality including supporting drinking water programs wastewater treatment facilities and help farmers develop environmentally sound water sources that would leverage more than $33 million in federal and other matching funds.
